


Make a Difference

by Nevaeh



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, I´m going to add tags as the story moves forward, Minor Character Death, gine (minor appearance), in the most literal sense possible, it will not be graphic, mentioning of pan/bra, mentioning of sexual assault, mentioning of torture, mentioning of violence, non-sexual choking, not completely compliant with DBS but mostly, short scene Bra/femOC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 13:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8753215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevaeh/pseuds/Nevaeh
Summary: Bra and Goten accidentally land in a parallel universe where Freeza still lives and the Saiyans haven´t been eradicated yet. Helping them to kill Freeza sounds good... at first. A lot is at stake if they ever want to make it back home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaah, my precious little darling! This story has been developed for around five years and I haven´t found the time and patience to write it down. FINALLY, here it is! A major plus is the fact that I ditched the idea to write it in German. I won´t do it anyway. It´s more fun to write in German, but I´ve got more motivation to write in English (more readers, haha) and writing in English isn´t bad as well. Can´t be quite as colloquial, but maaaybe that´s a blessing, haha.
> 
> Anyway, so this story is based on All my Tomorrows. You don´t have to read it, I just introduced some characters in that story which were the reason I wanted to write another one and give them more screen time. Voila. But of course I´m going to introduce them here again. No OCs as main characters.
> 
> What to expect… it´s kind of time travel/dimension travel/military sci-fi kind of story. Warnings for brutality, but nothing too explicit, don´t like that either and for sex, probably not too explicit either. I can assure that there is no sexual torture and no rape, but mentioning/threatening of both. It is not the focus of the story in any way.
> 
> Protagonists are Bra and Goten! Bra is around 20 at the beginning, Goten around 30. The only pairing mentioned will be Bra/Pan, but it´s not the focus of the story.
> 
> Okay, enough talking, have fun!

The bar was awfully crowded and at least three people were constantly pressed against her, trying to order drinks. Bra could´ve gotten a seat in the VIP lounge, but the masses of people distracted her. She downed her drink in one go and gestured for another one. She never got herself drunk. But this time… maybe it would help. At least she could ignore everything for a little while. Smoking calmed her down, but it wasn´t good enough.

 

She had actually thought it was serious with Pan. And just when she had wanted to tell her exactly that, Pan had… ‘ _Maybe we should take a break’_ And what if it was all her fault? What if the fact that Bra didn´t want to make it public was the reason, what if Pan thought Bra´s feelings weren´t valid just because she didn’t advertise them so much? Didn´t Pan know her better than that? It was probably best in that case. It still fucking hurt.

 

Someone touched her shoulder. She ignored it, but the hand didn´t move until Bra turned around, ready to slap whoever thought to annoy her right now.

 

“Fuck off, I´m not interested!”

 

It was Goten. Of all people, she had to run into Goten. How had he even seen her?

 

“Me neither. Are you alone? Wanna talk? Haven´t seen you in ages!”

 

Bra´s eyes narrowed. She wanted him to leave, she especially didn´t want him to draw attention to her. It was an awful evening, even withoutpaparazzi and autograph hunters. And he looked buzzed himself.

 

“I don´t wanna talk.”

 

She turned around again, a new drink already on the counter. She downed that one as well. Better leave, this wasn´t working as she had hoped. She could buy a bottle of something at the next corner store… When she got up, Goten followed her. It did feel good when she was finally outside, the air still moist and hot but refreshing for Southeast City weather. She took a deep breath, and another.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

She eyed him. He was looking good, better than she remembered. It had been a few years… since Trunks had moved out. There was no reason for Goten to hang out at her family’s house anymore. They hadn´t actually been friends. She wondered if Pan had told him… “I´m fine. Had a shitty day, I´m gonna get home.”

 

She didn´t wait for him to react, just walked away. Sadly he followed her. “Do you wanna fly to West City? You´re pretty drunk…”

 

Bra suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. “I have an apartment here. I´m studying at SE. Goten.” She turned around abruptly. Goten stumbled not to run into her. “I´d love to catch up, but not today. I really…. I´m so tired and I just want to go home.”

 

Goten´s concern was written plainly on his face. Maybe he forgot that she wasn’t his lil sister. “Didn´t find someone to fuck but besides that… hey, do you mind if I crash at your place tonight?”

 

She huffed, but she didn´t have the energy anymore to argue about his thinly veiled plot to protect her. “Whatever. It´s over there…” She gestured over to the left side of the street. “Hey, you wanna fly? It´s faster than walking.”

 

He shrugged and picked her up carefully. She was pretty confident that she wouldn´t throw up, but just in case… “Over there, a bit to the left… yeah that house with the trees… no, one more… okay.” Goten dropped down in the back alley, right onto another man. They hadn´t checked. It was already late. They hadn´t even touched the ground when everything started spinning.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The rubble hurt her feet. She was only wearing sandals with a very thin sole. And it was cold as fuck. Every time she exhaled she left a small cloud of air and the shivering got worse with every second. Her hair was covering her shoulders somewhat, but it helped only marginally. Goten sat next to her on the bench, looking equally miserable. His arm was starting to turn blue and all his hair was standing up from his arms. At least he wore pants and sneakers.

 

“What just happened?”

 

Goten stared blankly at the other side of the street, at the destroyed buildings. One was still spitting water out of a burst pipe. It couldn´t have happened long ago. She fished a cigarette out of her bag, handing one to Goten who took it absentmindedly.

 

“I don´t know.”

 

“Does your arm hurt?”

 

He looked down, as if he had forgotten all about it. “Yeah. Actually.”

 

She inhaled deeply, and again. And again. It calmed her down, but it didn´t warm her. She shuffled a bit closer to Goten. “I don´t think we´re on Earth anymore.”

 

“I don´t either.” He took his phone out. No signal. “I think that guy was teleporting. I mean…” He pocketed it again.

 

Yes. Why not? Her mum had built a time machine, why not teleporting. Bra took another drag. Right when they stumbled into him they immediately switched to this place and Goten fell awkwardly on a steel beam. The man was gone before either of them could react. And now… they were sitting in a dead city, under a yellow sky with no living being around. Bra couldn´t feel any Kis, but she wasn´t very good at it anyway. “Is someone around?”

 

Goten finished his cigarette and threw it on the ground. “I can´t feel anything in the area, but I`m not good enough for the whole planet.” He shrugged apologetically. Goten obviously hadn’t spent his time training as well. “At least it looks like something similar to humans lived here. The bench fits us… that bathroom looks normal.” He shrugged again. “Maybe we should fly somewhere else, find…” He stopped, looking at the far end of the street. She had felt it, too. Someone was coming.

 

“Do you want to hide?” They weren´t that strong. They should be able to handle it.

 

“No. Let´s see who they are.” A few seconds later five people arrived. They looked human. Except for the tails. And the armor that looked very much like… her dad´s.  She instantly grabbed Goten´s arm, feeling how tense he was. Something was very weird indeed.

 

One of them walked towards them, a tall man with a short afro and very dark skin. He shouted something in a language they didn´t understand.

 

“Goten… who are those people? They look like…” Bra eyed the rest of the group. There were two other men. One with a sidecut and light brown skin, one with an unruly mob of shoulder length hair and a huge scar on his chin. The women didn´t look any nicer, a tall one with a ponytail and blond tips, small eyes in a round face and the other one, darker skinned, with a straight bob. She looked most like her dad and Goku-san. They all wore dark green body suits and some kind of patch on their uniform.

 

The man stopped shouting, staring at them expectantly. It didn´t help to sit around and do nothing, so Bra got up and pulled Goten with her. They stopped a few steps in front of the man.

 

“We don´t understand you and we don´t know where we are.” She gestured around, shaking her head. “Can you help us?”

 

Goten leaned down, his face close to hers. “What are you doing?”

 

“Trying to get us out of here, obviously.” She whispered. Better safe than sorry.

 

The man started talking again, and scar-guy pulled a tablet out of a bag around his shoulder.

 

“Maybe they have a translator”, she whispered again.

 

Goten stood up straight again when the man came closer, typing something and finally pushing the tablet towards Goten. He took it reluctantly.

 

“What are we supposed to do with that?” Bra eyed it curiously. She couldn´t read the script. It didn´t look familiar at all, besides looking like a normal website layout. “Don´t know. Maybe it´s translating and we have to type something? I just can´t… read it.”

 

“Me neither. I´m too cold and drunk for this shit, seriously…”

 

The display started to change and a little ringing noise came out. “What the…”

 

Before Bra could inspect it closer the first guy grabbed the tablet, quickly typing away again.

 

“ _Strangers  - you – from -  where – restricted – planet – Freeza – cleansed – not – permission”_

 

Bra slowly looked at Goten, completely confused. Was Freeza back? Had someone resurrected him again? Were those five people really Saiyans? They smelled like it, and maybe her dad simply didn´t know some were left, but would they really work for… Freeza?

 

“We don´t want to be here, we just landed here. On accident.”

 

Bra shook him. “Goten…”

 

“What? We have to do something and they could tell us where we are!”

 

Afro was typing again. Bra pressed her lips together. Goten was right, but she wasn´t happy about it at all.

 

“ _No – ship – identify – yourself”_

“We teleported! Someone teleported us! Just tell us where the fuck we are and how we can get away!” Bra pushed Goten away. Her head was hurting and she was cold and her patience was running thin. “I´m Bra. This is Goten. Who are you?”

 

Goten gave her a stern look, but didn´t argue. There was no time for that, but she was sure she would get a mouthful later.

 

“ _Word – meaning – not – understand – planet – Tushkin”_ Afro typed again. “ _Fly – base – continue – talk”_

 

Sidecut and short bob were walking towards them. Bra took a step back, her eyes moving frantically between Goten and them. “Goten, can you fight? Something´s happening.”

 

“I think they want to pick us up to fly to their base.”

 

That made sense. But it didn´t give her a much better feeling. “Can´t we fly ourselves? I don´t want to…”

 

“Doesn´t really matter…” Goten muttered quietly, Bra almost didn´t understand him, but he picked her up and started hovering. The two Saiyans who had walked towards them shortly looked at each other until short bob shrugged. They spoke quickly and flew off, careful to keep Goten and Bra between them.

 

“Goten, what kind of insane parallel world is this? Why would those people work for Freeza after he destroyed their planet?”

 

Goten eyed sidecut who was flying next to him. “I don´t know. But if they really are working for him we have to get away before they deliver us to him.”

 

Bra pressed her lips together. Goten was right. The last time Freeza had appeared he had been insanely strong. Her dad had fought him in his god form and there was no way she or Goten were a match for that kind of strength. But they needed a ship first and maybe a clue where they were. She closed her eyes, sighing. Goten´s aura was so nice and warm. She drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´m so excited to finally write this story! And I´m actually glad that I didn´t do it sooner since I could integrate Super this way! Anyway, hope the little sneak made you all curious for the next chapter, haha.


	2. Chapter 2

Bra woke up abruptly when Goten landed and dropped her on her own feet. They had stopped in front of a two-story house which was mostly intact. Quite unlike the rest of the area. When she gave it a closer look, she saw bodies lying in the street. The natives really were humanoid, just with four arms and barely a neck. She didn´t want to look too closely.

 

“Come on. It looks like that everywhere here.”

 

It was disgusting. She swallowed dryly, rubbing her arms until Goten grabbed her and pulled her inside. One of the saiyans gestured for them and led them to a room with a couch and some blankets on the floor.

 

“I guess we should wait.”   
  
Goten shrugged and went over to grab the nearest blanket. “They probably have to figure out what to do with us. We should hear them out before we do something.”

 

“It´s not as if we could fly their ship…”

 

Goten stared at the far wall, already rolled up on the couch. He probably had the same realization. “Thought everyone in your family was a genius.”

 

Bra snorted. She knew her limits and it wouldn´t help anyone if they crashed before they even made it off the planet. It didn´t matter. She was cold and her headache was killing her. Kicking off her shoes she took another blanket, green with a geometric pattern, and got as comfortable as possible. It wasn´t hard. The couch was incredibly soft.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“It doesn´t make any sense. Are you sure the software is working properly?” Juusu looked at Piza expectantly, but he just shrugged.

 

“It could be a translation error. It says whatever they are speaking is similar to Onsi but obviously it´s not the same.”

 

“Is there even a colony there?” Koora stopped trying to entangle her hair. She should just braid it. Youzi had a hard time not to roll her eyes. “It could be a local dialect. And they´re mixed, so…”

 

Youzi picked on her fingernails. She should´ve worn gloves, the dried blood was awfully hard to wash off.

 

“And if they´re not Saiyans? They don´t even have tails! Mixed always have tails! We shouldn´t waste our time with them Juusu. We just finished here, can´t we kill them and leave?”

 

Toosuto was always so dramatic… they couldn´t simply kill people just because they were a nuisance! Wasn´t he the least bit curious how they got here? “Toosuto, they said they transported to the planet on accident. And there is no ship. Have you maybe wasted one of your rare thoughts on the possibility that they could know of some advanced transportation method we don´t know of?”

 

“Shut up, Youzi, that´s bullshit!” Toosuto huffed, looking at Juusu for confirmation. Juusu sighed and took off his scouter.

 

“The man has a high power level. Too high for some colony bum. They don´t speak a known language and just… appeared. So _no_ , Toosuto, we won´t simply kill them, since they obviously come from a part of the galaxy we don´t know. Which means they could have technology we don´t know of. We should call it in.”

 

“Is someone near?” Piza asked.

 

Koora tipped against her scouter. “Commander Yasai´s ship. Should I contact her? Juusu?”

 

He nodded. “Someone should look after our guests. We don´t want them to bail.”

 

Youzi got up, stretching her knees. “I´ll go. Maybe I can get more out of them.” Piza handed her the tablet. “Have fun. I´m gonna shower.”

 

“As long as we still have running water! And the blood is awful to get off.” Toosuto tried to run a hand through his hair but it was too sticky. Youzi grunted in acknowledgement and slowly started to take off her armour. She could clean it later, now it was more important to get something to eat. She took two additional ration bars. She had no idea where their guests came from but they looked like they could need a snack. Thinking again she turned around and grabbed a water bottle as well.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The blue haired female was looking glumly out of the window while the male was snoring softly. She had no trouble believing he was saiyan. Not only did he smell like one, he definitely looked like it. But the girl… she had never heard of a mixed with light eyes. Maybe her hair wasn´t even coloured, Youzi couldn´t see the roots. When she looked up, Youzi threw her one of the ration bars. The other one landed near to the guy. He would find it when he woke up. The girl didn´t hesitate and chewed it down in a second. Youzi handed her the water bottle and got comfy while she waited for the software to load.

 

The planet they came from must´ve been warm. And small. They seemed at ease with the low gravity, while Youzi felt every bone in her body ache. The lack of workout was always painful. The girl threw the empty water bottle on the floor where it landed softly on the carpet. Well. Better get started. She tipped on herself. “Youzi.”

 

The girl raised an eyebrow before she did the same. “Bra.”

 

Youzi furrowed her brows. What a weird name… “Burra?”

 

Bra shrugged. Maybe she was used to it. She grabbed behind her, for her purse and started searching for something. Youzi hadn´t noticed she even had one and took it from her to look through its contents. Bra said something to her that sounded very unfriendly but she didn´t try to wrangle it away from Youzi. Better for her. Youzi simply shook everything out of it. There was a communicator of some sorts and when she found the button to put it on it was all in a script she couldn´t read. She hesitated for a second, contemplating if she should keep it. But if Bra could´ve contacted someone with it she would´ve done that already. Shrugging, she put it back in the bag. There were some little soft sheets in a plastic wrap and some little plugs made of the same soft material in plastic wrap. Youzi had no idea what they were for. They weren´t big enough to be used on wounds and why should anyone carry that around in a purse? Bra didn´t look much like a fighter. The other things were more straightforward. Lipstick, a mirror, a little brush, hair bands, something in a bottle that smelled like chemicals and… cigarettes. Youzi handed them to Bra. She probably had been looking for them and she was right, Bra immediately lit one.

 

Youzi pushed the bag aside. “Guess we can start Burra.” She typed the first question. It would take a while.

 

Half an hour later she got back to her team. They all smelled clean and Youzi really hoped they had left some warm water for her.

 

“Got some news?” Juusu asked.

 

Youzi shrugged. “Yeah. They definitely are mixed. The girl´s name is Burra, the guy is Gohtin or something. Does that sound like Onsi names?” Everyone shrugged. Not that they knew any Onsi names. “Anyway, she said again that they transported here on accident and that they had been… at a party. I looked through their stuff, there was nothing interesting in there. Burra asked me a few things and those were actually interesting.” She sat down, stroking over her tail. It was a bit stiff in the cold weather. “When´s the ship coming anyway?”  


Koora waved her hand. “In a few hours. So, what did she ask?”

 

“Where we are from since planet Vegeta is destroyed. I told her that it isn´t. Should we check on that?”

 

Juusu shrugged. “No. Maybe she thought it was another planet.”

 

Didn´t sound very convincing to Youzi, but she didn´t want to start fighting about it. “Asked me about Lord Freeza as well. So they do have some kind of knowledge, but they can´t be from a world which is actually part of the empire.”

 

“What did she want to know about Freeza?” Piza asked.

 

“If he´s alive again.”

 

“Again?” Now Juusu sat up. “What does she mean by that?”

 

Youzi shook her head. “Don´t know. When I asked her she didn´t respond. I told her that we´ll meet up with some other team and she only said that she didn´t know what had happened and they can´t give us any information about traveling technology.”

 

“Figured that out, huh?” Toosuto said.

 

“Yeah, well, that was obvious. Couldn´t find out which planet they are from either and I figured we shouldn´t use violence. Leave it for the Commander.”

 

“Better that way. Thanks Youzi. There´s still some hot water left.” Juusu got back down on his mattress. Youzi´s knees cracked when she got up again. She really needed a shower badly.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The sky didn´t look differently when Bra woke up. She wondered if the days were just insanely long or the nights really short. Goten was up already and chewed on the ration bar. It tasted like cardboard but she still didn´t feel hungry, so it did its job. Her head was throbbing violently again and when she ran her tongue over her teeth, she felt a disgusting patina.

 

“I talked to them yesterday when you were out.”

 

Goten looked up, alarmed. His hair was sticking into every direction, it was kinda funny. “What did you say?”

 

“I think… I don´t think we teleported. Like, in our universe. Planet Vegeta is still here and Freeza wasn´t ever dead according to what they know and… at least we don´t have to worry about that, right?”

 

Goten looked away, his eyes moving fast. Bra understood. She had needed some time to adapt as well.

 

“But… how do we get away from here?”

 

“Now that is the million dollar question, right?”

 

Goten swallowed, his eyes wide. “I…”

 

“Gohtin, Burra!” Youzi threw the door open, the tablet in her hand. “Shower – then – leave.”

 

“Oh, and they want to take us to some other ship to discuss things with a superior I guess.”

 

“You think that´s a good idea?” Goten got up, Youzi was looking rather impatient.

 

“I think we don´t have anything better to do so we should just tag along.”

 

The shower was cold and she couldn´t even brush her teeth. She tried to rub the worst off with her finger. It was helping a little at least. Usually when she felt awful in the morning she went for a jog. Southeast City had a really nice beach and it always cleared her head… the water stopped and a second later Goten stepped out of it, a towel wrapped around his hips and his hair… Bra couldn´t help it, she giggled. Now she knew why everyone always said he resembled his dad.

 

“You don´t look any better, Bra. Do you have another hairband? I ripped mine…”

 

She was being generous and he was lucky that she always had a spare in her purse. “Y´know, our prof invited a guest speaker and today was the only day I could listen to it. I also have an oral presentation next week and on Friday is a local rythmics tournament I had been training for...” She finished untangling her hair and put it in a neat bun to stop it from dripping.

 

“You´re not the only one who had plans.” At least he looked exactly as awful as she did. He had a little bun as well, eyebags for days and his beard needed a little trim.

 

“But you´re the only one who´ll listen to my complains. If I could just…” Actually, she could do some stretches. Bra started with her back and immediately felt lighter when she heard a pop. Right when she went into a split Youzi came in again. The ship was there.

 

It was a short trip over to a free spot where the ship had landed. Bra hadn´t really thought about it but the size surprised her. It was _huge_. Youzi and her crew uploaded their small round ships, at least she thought that´s what they were and they fit comfortably in the storage area. There were other saiyans who were watching them curiously but no introductions were made. Bra still didn´t know what anyone´s name was except for Youzi.

 

“Ugh… the gravity is higher.” Goten started panting, grabbing his chest.

 

“Youzi asked if we… could handle… higher gravity. I said yes.” It felt as if someone sat on her chest and didn´t go away. Her head almost exploded.

 

“It´s not… ten g. Can you… handle it?”

 

Bra nodded. It was chill on the ship but the extortion warmed her right up. “I hope… it´s not too long to… that other ship.” Goten huffed. Didn´t mean that the gravity would be lower there. 

 

The trip took them two days, that´s what her watch told her. Her phone had given up the previous day and she doubted there were any power outlets that would fit Earth cables. Not that it was important. Both of them had stayed in bed most of the time, trying to breathe was hard enough already. They had gotten something else to wear for which Bra was immensely grateful and some toothbrushes for which she was even more grateful. Though she almost didn´t care about those small acts of kindness after she had to walk to the mess for food. Walking was so incredibly hard.

 

On day two they were informed by speaker that they would dock on another ship. Not that they understood any it, but Youzi came to bring them to a room with view. It was actually nice, the immense blackness with a myriad of tiny bright dots and in the middle of it the other ship they were meeting. Bra had thought the transporter they were on was big, but the other ship was simply gigantic. It looked like a whole city block could fit into it. She wondered how many people were on it and what it was used for. Considering the dark grey overalls they had gotten were worn by everyone else it could easily be a military vessel. She wasn´t sure if that was good.

 

When they docked, only the five saiyans who had found them went with them. The transporter left immediately after they got off. The gravity on the new ship was even worse than before and she dearly hoped it was 10 g already.

 

“Goten… I think I have to… die.”

 

He panted, swallowing dryly. The oxygen had been lower as well. Even if they wanted to break out, they definitely weren´t in any shape to do so.

 

Youzi held out her arm and they all stopped. Someone came. Bra only looked at Goten shortly before a door on the far side of the cargo hold opened and a small woman and a taller man entered. Everyone bowed immediately.

 

“Should we… also?” Goten glanced at her sideways.

 

“I´ll bow… in hell.” Besides, she wasn´t sure she was able to get up again if she did. The woman seemed to be the one in charge. She eyed them both before she talked shortly to Afro. She had a buzzcut with a small mohawk and wore some dark red bodysuit and a very tacky cape. And an emblem on her uniform. Bra knew it. It was on her father´s old uniform as well. Maybe she was… someone royal? A princess? Queen? She had no idea how the system worked.

 

Bra almost stumbled when the woman turned around abruptly, eyeing them even closer. Then she left.

 

“What… was that?”

 

“I don´t know, Bra. Maybe we´re… not that interesting… after all.”

 

They were lead to another room. The ship was exactly as bland as the other one, dirty white halls, a dark floor made of some sort of plastic, doors with labels she couldn´t read and people who looked at them curiously. Bra was glad when she could finally lie down and hoped that the Queen would wait a day or two for an audience. She needed to catch a breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone of you has read All my tomorrows, you should remember Yasai. She´s actually the reason I wanted to write this story! She and Zukka, though Zukka won´t have a big role here since she already had her own arc in AmT. Just as a warning, this is going to be a pretty plotty story and I´ll have to introduce a lot of characters that won´t show up again after they´ve done their part. So don´t be irritated, you won´t have to remember everyone.
> 
> Anyway, the same as I did in AmT I´ll give you an overview of the names! Since all the Saiyan names have meanings!
> 
> Youzi – Chinese for Pomelo  
> Juusu – Japanese for juice  
> Piza – Japanese for pizza (yes, really! I love English lean words in Japanese haha)  
> Toosuto – Japanese for toast (that´s my fav)  
> Koora – Japanese for coke  
> Yasai – Japanese for … vegetable ( you can probably guess where that is going)
> 
> See you next time!


	3. Chapter 3

It was cold on the ship, colder than he was used to. He was still sweating, and he could feel every little drop running down his skin. On every spot where they formed a little pool, he felt as if the pressure was trying to crush him. Breathing was so hard. He knew it wasn’t 10 G already, and that made it actually worse. Was it really that long ago, that he had trained in a much higher gravity? He slowly, carefully turned his head to the side, looking at Bra in the other bed. She was lying on her side, her eyes closed, sweat slowly dripping down her forehead. Her breathing was ragged. He knew she wasn’t sleeping.

 

“Bra… Are you awake?”

 

She opened her eyes, with much difficulty. They had been on the ship only for a few hours, but he knew that it was much harder for her than it was for him.

 

“Yeah.” She closed her eyes again. “What do you want?”

 

“Can you... Can you still take it?”

 

Bra sighed. “If not… What would you… Do about it?”

 

“I could… Ask them… To turn the gravity down.”

 

Bra huffed. She opened her eyes again, slightly. “We haven’t been… On here… Very long… I’m still damn sure… They were already… Very nice to turn it down that much.”

 

She was probably right. He still would like to go back to Earth gravity. With a grunt, he got up. His abs were protesting, as was his head, as was his whole body. But if he didn’t move, it would never get better. He slowly walked over the two steps to Bra´s bed, softly touching her shoulder.

 

“Then we have to do something about it. Come on, get up.”

 

Bra barely managed to push his hand away. “Whatever you´re planning… I won’t do it. I can barely breathe.”

 

“I know. I feel the same. That’s why we have to move. To get used to it. You don’t know how long we will stay here. And I haven’t been on here very long as well, but I’m also pretty certain that they will turn it up until it is comfortable for them. Especially when they realize that we can take it.”

 

“You realize that we shouldn’t try then, right?”

 

Goten didn’t move. He only stared daggers at her. After a while, he turned around and started walking up and down the room. It was already exhausting enough. And if she didn’t want to join… Her problem.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

It must’ve been something like evening when finally someone came for them. Goten was sitting on his bed, occasionally lifting an arm or a leg while Bra had only shifted slightly from her position. To be fair, she had gotten up a few times. At least one time she had went to the toilet, then she had tinkered around with the charger for her phone and finally she had managed to get it inside of a power outlet. They couldn’t call anyone, but they could listen to some music. And just listening to some mindless pop music was really feeling like home. In some ways it felt as if they had fairly been gone, in others as if they were already away for years.

 

He didn’t know the saiyan who came for them. It wasn’t one of the five who picked them up. That one also didn’t care much about trying to communicate with them. He just waved his hand and expected them to follow.

 

“Is dinner ready?” Bra pushed herself up, with much effort.

 

“Don’t know. Or maybe that woman from before wants to talk to us.” She had looked eerily similar to Vegeta… But then they all somehow did. He wondered what the ship was all about. On the previous one, they had gotten overalls. The same everyone was wearing. It was some kind of uniform… Maybe it was a military vessel. He wasn’t sure what that meant for them though.

 

They were led to a small conference room. Slower than the guy who came to get them liked, considering the amount of huffs and side-eyes they got. And it seemed conference rooms look the same everywhere in the galaxy. There was a table in the middle, big enough for maybe six or eight people. It was black, with black chairs, a dark blue carpet, and beige walls with some pictures of architecture on them. The woman was there, as was the other person who greeted them in the hangar bay, and this time they were also wearing an overall. Probably more comfortable…

 

“I am commander Yasai, this is second commander Nasu. You are Gohtin and Burra.” She looked at them, her eyebrows raised. Goten wasn’t sure if he was supposed to say something to that. So he just nodded. “Sit down. We have questions.” Bra sat down with a sigh. He felt the same, walking here had been exhausting enough for another break. And as much as he wanted to know what was going on, he really wasn’t in the mood for another session with the damn translator tablet.

 

“We were told, that you traveled by unknown means. Do you have any knowledge of your transportation method?”

 

“No. We do not. And we already told you that multiple times.”

 

Nasu wrote something down in a notebook. Goten looked at it curiously. He hadn’t thought that space travelers would actually still use notebooks and pens.

 

“You said, Freeza is dead. You said, Vegeta-sei is destroyed. Explain.”

 

Goten slowly turned his head to look at Bra. She shrugged, as if that hadn’t been information they should have been careful about giving out. She hadn’t told him that she had said that to the other group while he was sleeping. And he was severely annoyed that they didn’t have the chance to decide how much they want to tell these people after she blabbed everything out.  

 

Bra sighed again. He didn’t know if she didn’t realize how rude that was. “We live in a multiverse. And it seems that we travelled to an alternate universe by accident. In our universe, all of those things have already happened. And since it hasn’t happened here, this universe must be in our past. Does this answer your question?”

 

Nasu made even more notes while Yasai sat up straighter. Goten frowned and pushed the tablet away from them. He leaned over to Bra, because they definitely needed a quick chat right now. “Bra, what are you doing? If this is really the past, you can´t just tell them anything!”

 

A small smile tugged on Bra´s lip. “Goten, I just had an idea. How me make sure they will help us. I mean, you could… Do the thing Goku did. And they’d be so grateful, they´d help us get away from here. I mean, the already know. And they obviously believe us. So let’s do it!”

 

Goten only stared at her for a few seconds. Of course it seemed easier for her. Because she didn’t have to do anything according to that plan. He would be the one who had to kill Freeza. And even if, there was no guarantee they could help them in any way! “They don’t know how to get away from here either!”

 

“There are options. We can´t discuss this right now. Just trust me.” They looked up again, and the curious faces of Yasai and Nasu. Goten sincerely hoped that the tablet hadn’t caught everything they had just said.

 

“What planet are you from, since you are half Saiyans and know Freeza but don’t speak any known language?”

 

They didn’t say anything. After a few seconds, Nasu started writing again and Yasai only lifted her eyebrows. “How exactly did you travel here?”

 

That again... “As we already said, we ran into a man on our way from a party, and then we were suddenly on the planet where you picked us up.”

 

“What species was this person?”

 

“We don’t know. Do you want to ask us questions that we haven’t already answered?” Bra huffed, but he ignored it. She could shut right up.

 

“Are you from the royal family?” Goten barely ket himself from snapping at her. They would have a long talk later for the next time they would be questioned.

 

“Yes. I am the first daughter of our King. How do you know?”

 

“I am the daughter of the last Prince. Prince Vegeta. Do you know him?” He didn’t know what she was trying to do. This Vegeta wouldn’t know them. Or maybe… She just wanted to know where and the timeline they were. But considering the amount stupid she had been saying, he somehow doubted that.

 

“Every Prince´s name is Vegeta. No Prince would make bastards on another planet. Knowingly.”

 

Bra grinned. “Freeza blew up your planet in our time. And he killed every single one of you. Except for my father. The amount of known bastards didn’t matter anymore.”

 

Yasai didn’t seem impressed. “We will continue talking. Go back to your room.” And with that, she got up and left the room. Nasu followed close behind. Shortly after the guy who had taken them to the conference room came back and led them to their room. Someone had also brought food. The only good thing that had happened so far.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“What the fuck was that?” He was so tired. He felt the blood pounding his brain and he just wanted to lie down and sleep for at least 12 hours, but that was exactly the reason why they were in this mess! They had both been too tired on the other ship to actually talk things through. “You didn’t tell me that you basically told them already that were from the future!”

 

Bra rolled her eyes, putting down the bowl she had grabbed from the tray in the corner. “Because I didn’t think it was necessary. I mean, we appeared out of nowhere! Do you really think that this little bit of information matters right now?”

 

“Yes! Obviously I do! What if we change the timeline? You don’t know if we’re in a parallel universe. You just guessed that.”

 

“I didn’t! Freeza I still alive. Vegeta-sei is still there. And you and I both know that time travel immediately means parallel universes. And guess what, maybe they would be more inclined to help us in any way if we give them something instead of just being mysterious. What do you think would happen? They´re going to leave us on the next planet, and then what? We can´t speak their language, we have no money and we know no one. And even if we had a ship, we still wouldn’t know where to go! So yeah, I think it’s a better idea to tell them that we can actually do something against the looming doom of their home planet and maybe they´ll give us a ship and directions to Namek?”

 

Goten felt the blood pump faster through his body as his anger rose to dangerous levels. He tried to keep his ki low, but it was hard. “Do you really think the Dragon can bring us back?”

 

“Yes. Fucking obviously. Or do you have any better ideas? If not, leave me alone and enjoy your meal.” She grabbed a bowl again, and started to eat. It was probably better if they would settle this another time. “I also think the days are longer than ours.”

 

Goten stared at her for a few seconds. As if he would care right now.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“Nasu, what do you say?”

 

Nasu was skipping through his notes, his brows furrowed. “Could´ve used an easier story for lying.”

 

Yasai leaned back in her chair, her hands on her stomach. The low gravity was going on her nerves, but their two guests were already on edge about it, so she wanted them to have at least a few days to get used to it before turning it up again. “What if they are not lying? I mean, there is a debate that multiple universes are existing.” She looked at Nasu. “And judging by what group 457 said, they really did appear out of nowhere.”

 

Nasu didn´t look very convinced. “They don´t even know themselves. They are just guessing.”

 

“Hm. Did you check the power readings? And get a DNA sample from the girl. Let’s see if she is really from the royal family.”

 

Nasu grabbed the tablet, scrolling until he found the right page. “Gohtin´s power level is way higher than average. To what group 457 collected, it also grew stronger since he is in higher gravity. The girl is average, no fighter, but her power level also increased.” He hesitated for a second. “Do you really think she´s royal family? She doesn´t even look like a saiyan.”

 

“Wouldn´t be the first bastard…” She looked at the far wall, thinking. This was all very interesting. Yasai had heard of people who could increase the power level at will, but it was unusual. When she had gotten the report, she had only acknowledged it because they were on the way to Dunja anyway. Easy to drop them off and forget about it. But now… She was curious. She didn’t necessarily believe that they were from the future or another universe or whatever, but that didn’t mean that it wasn´t a little riddle she could solve.

 

“Nasu. Let’s give them two more days until they get used to the ship. I’d like to run a little test afterwards. And make a DNA analysis of the man as well. I want to know if they are related.” She waved her hand, dismissing him. She needed time to think. And… She was really hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the chapter is short, but I´m currently using speech recognition software to write and it takes longer than just typing (which I can´t do much atm) BUT I want weekly updates, so… I´ll see how it goes, I´d like to keep them at 3K.
> 
> Anyway, new guy, new name!
> 
> Nasu - Japanese for eggplant 
> 
> See you next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year everyone!

"We raised the gravity to 0.75 this morning, and we had a spike in the power levels of both of them.” Nasu looked at her expectantly. “So what now?”

 

Yasai lifted her chin from her hands. “What do you mean “spike”? Like short bursts, or did they just raise their power levels again?”

 

“Short burst. It was relatively insiginificant for the girl, for Gohtin it went into the range of an elite.”

 

“Really? I wonder... Give them two days, raise the gravity to 0.85, give them two more days and then raise it to normal levels. And Nasu, they can go to the mess now. No more food to their room.”

 

Nasu scribbled it down quickly. Yasai had no idea why he was still using those old-time notebooks, but if it made him happy… “Do you think they´ll reach a plateau soon?”

 

Yasai rubbed her nose, leaning back in her chair. “I don’t know. That’s what we´re going to find out. What about the DNA analysis?”

 

Nasu sighed, turning a few pages in his notebook. “They are not related and it looks like she wasn´t lying. The DNA is a very close match to yours. Could almost be your daughter.”

 

Yasai rolled her eyes. “She´s my age.”

 

“I said almost, Yasai. Could be your father or some of the previous princesses.”

 

Yasai nodded slowly. “Unlikely.” She hesitated for a second. “What if they didn´t lie? Think she´s the daughter of our current prince?”

 

“Well…” Nasu closed his notebook and slowly walked over to her desk. “We need to wait until we are back on Vegeta-sei to do a proper analysis. We only have your DNA here. Could still be your father.”

 

“Or they are from the future. That´s it, right? The little prince doesn´t know what a dick is for yet and I doubt our king would make bastards and not take care of it.” She eyed Nasu closer. “Way too careless for him. Let´s see how this turns out and then decide if we take them to Vegeta-sei.”

 

Nasu sighed again. “Yasai… if they are just two dumb bastards who were left by their parents on some uncategorized planet and we bring them home we…”

 

Yasai waved her hand, making him shut up. “I know, Nasu. It´s going well for us, right? I´ll only consider it if we got a reason.”

 

Nasu stared at her for a few seconds longer before he shrugged and shuffled out of her office. Yasai sat quietly at her desk a while longer, staring out of the window into the blackness outside. She was well aware that it was a risk to their very successful careers. But she had a feeling deep down in her gut that it would be worth it.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“I hope... It is finally... 10 g.” Bra was sitting on her bed, raising one leg at a time, slowly. After it was made clear that they won’t be getting any food to their room anymore, Bra reluctantly resigned and started working out as well. If lifting her arms and legs occasionally could be called working out. But it was more exhausting than anything she had ever done before. Goten was doing a bit better, he was already sitting on the floor doing push-ups. But then again, he was a super saiyan.

 

“I think so. Maybe they had to raise it, maybe their coworkers complained.”

Bra snorted. “ _Commander Yasai_ doesn’t look like the kind of person who would be easily impressed by complaints.”

 

Goten made a weird noise, a grunt or maybe a short burst of laughter. Both was fine with her. “Well maybe she was annoyed herself. Right?” He stopped while sitting up, grinning at her. Usually, she would throw pillow at his head, but the pillow was heavy, and it was way too exhausting. Instead, she let her legs dangle down the side of the bed, and the back. “You are absolutely right. I wonder when the next audience will happen. Since they definitely didn’t believe us last time.”

 

Goten stopped again, this time he just lay on the floor. “Maybe they’ll throw us out at the next stop.”

 

Bra looked over the room, the tiny windowless room with the dark gray walls, the black floor, just enough room for two bunk beds and enough space between the bed for Goten to do his situps. It was barely more than a prison cell. It did have a bathroom of its own, so tiny she could barely squeeze herself into it, but that was the extent of their luxury. “I don’t know if that would really be so bad.”

 

Goten kept quiet for while, before he resumed his workout.

 

A few hours later Bra was scrolling through her phone, trying to find some music that wouldn’t go on her nerves. Which was a hard task, considering that she couldn’t move properly, that it was freezing in the room, but the high gravity made her sweat like a pig and that Goten obviously wasn’t faring much better, because he was complaining about everything she put on.

 

“For fuck´s sake Goten, I can just turn it off.” She pushed her phone away, not in the mood to argue anymore. Even talking was exhausting.

 

“I was just…”

 

They both looked up when the door open. It was Nasu again. Time for another audience. Nasu just waved his hand, expecting them to follow. Bra glanced sideways at Goten, raising her eyebrows. “Must be important.”

 

Goten shrugged, or some low energy version of it. “Or they don’t want to alarm us that they´re kicking us out.“

 

They slowly walked to another conference room, this one had a green carpet and it was bigger. Yasai was sitting on the far end, a broad grin on her face. She looked just like Bra´s dad at that moment, and Bra wanted to tell her to stop it. Instead, she pressed her lips together and tried to ignore it. When they sat down, Yasai activated her tablet and immediately started talking.

 

“How high can you raise your power levels?”

 

Now that… Goten twitched, probably thinking about what to say. “Not much. We had to adapt to the high gravity. We’re not used to it.”

 

Yasai grinned again. “I know. You told group 457. And yet there was a spike in your power level, right when we raised the gravity. Up to elite level.”

 

Bra glanced nervously to Goten. It would be best if he raised his Ki a bit and they´d be done with it. Yasai had a predatory gleam in her eyes and Bra suspected that it wouldn´t do them any good if they tried to challenge her determination to find out of what exactly they were capable of. Bra pushed his leg under the table, hoping he would get the hint.

 

“Right. That’s all I can do.”

 

“And how does some bastard who can’t even talk properly gain such strength? Were you born with it?”

 

Goten hesitated, and Bra wasn’t the only one who noticed it. Yasai got up, and slowly circled the table. She stopped next to Bra. “I’m waiting.”

 

Goten slowly turned around in his chair. Yasai was so tiny, she barely towered Bra. It still made a shiver run down Bra´s spine. And this time it was not for the freaking cold. 

 

“Yeah. I was born with it.”

 

Bra didn’t move. She didn’t dare to. The tension was so thick she could’ve cut it with a knife. She couldn´t even feel Ki and knew that Yasai was radiating it.

 

“I don’t believe you. Show me.”

 

Goten’s eyes widened. “Listen Commander Yasai, that was all I was able to do. I can probably control it, and…”

 

“You are lying. Show me.”

 

Goten stared at her helplessly, and in that moment, Yasai gripped Bra’s throat and lifted her up in the air. It all happened so fast, Bra´s mind didn´t even follow. There was just this unrelenting pressure on her throat and the need to breathe, she just… couldn´t… she tried to claw Yasai´s hand away, but she was too strong, she should´ve known, that dumb bitch had already looked ready to eat them both alive when they entered and now… Bra felt the gravity press down on her head, making it even worse. She couldn´t touch the ground anymore, how was it possible, Yasai was so tiny, and how… she gurgled, the pressure behind her eyes unbearable, there were spots in her vision and finally… she fell hard on the floor, gasping so violently for air she started coughing. Goten hadn´t helped her. She saw him, standing a few steps away, surrounded by a golden glow. That fucking idiot. Someone grabbed her, lifted her on her feet, she didn´t want to, she couldn´t stand, it was too hard, but whoever it was didn´t let her go and she relaxed in the grip. They left the room and Goten didn´t follow, why didn´t he follow?

 

Bra thought they wandered the damn halls for an eternity, everything looked the same, and everyone was staring at them. They finally entered an elevator, full with other people, all of them staring as well. She looked up. Nasu was still holding her. They were the only ones who left the elevator at their stop and he led her to a huge open room, the white walls so bright it hurt her eyes. He said something she couldn´t understand and finally she could sit down. Someone pressed something cold against her throat. It made it easier to breathe. She closed her eyes, trying to calm down her heartbeat, trying to get her brain working again.

 

She took a deep breath. She would kill Goten.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“Show me or I´ll kill her!”

 

Goten stared wide eyed at Yasai who had lifted Bra off the floor by her throat. She was still struggling, but her head was already turning from red to purple.

 

“Stop it! She can´t…” Bra barely moved anymore, only some sloppy attempts to push Yasai away. He had to do something. For a second, his mind went blank. And then he felt the familiar warmth of his Ki surround him. Everything was easier in an instant, he could feel his muscles relax and his mind calmed down and he had focus. He raised his hand, ready to blow Yasai away, but she had already dropped Bra, an insane grin on her face. There were too many teeth in that grin. He cocked his head, waiting. Bra was still alive, her Ki was fluctuating wildly but it was strong.

 

“The scouter is already out of range, it has to be in the tens of thousands or even higher.”

 

They weren´t even looking at him. He got closer, Yasai´s Ki wasn´t that spectacular, he could just crush her.

 

“What is this transformation?” He saw himself reflect in her black eyes. They were so black, he had never seen anything like it. Nasu had walked around the table and lifted Bra up. Goten raised his hand again. “Leave Bra alone.”

 

“Don´t worry about her Gohtin. She´s fine. Tell me about this transformation.”

 

Nasu didn´t move. He knew that it was dangerous. Smart guy.

 

“Gohtin, we´ll bring her to the infirmary. I don´t care about her. We could have avoided this.”

 

Nasu still didn´t move. Goten lowered his hand. “If you don´t help her I´ll kill all of you.”

 

Yasai nodded slowly and Nasu finally left the room. Goten wanted to punch the bitch, but he knew he couldn´t. She was their ticket out of here.

 

“Super Saiyajin.”

 

Her eyes widened. “Really.” She looked him up and down, he could smell the shift in her interest. It was disgusting. “From some bastard… are you sure it´s not a transformation of your other half?”

 

“Yes.”

 

She stopped at his face. “Is it genetic?”

 

“No.”

 

She walked a step closer. “Can you teach it?”

 

He slapped her, hard enough that she slammed against the table and left a splatter of blood on the floor. She coughed, spat, and got up again. Wiped her mouth. “Let´s have a chat. Bura needs to recover.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

She got a patch with the cold stuff on it that she held on her throat. It was easing the pain and made it easier to breathe again, but it still hurt and when she checked she saw dark purple marks on her skin. Someone had brought her back to her room, some staff from the infirmary who were wearing beige uniforms instead of dark grey ones. She wondered where Goten was, if he was still chatting with Yasai. If he tried to get away after he had killed the bitch. There should´ve been an alarm in that case, or not? She heard nothing.

 

When he finally returned he looked glum and lost in thought and he startled horribly when he noticed her.

 

“Bra! Are you ok? I thought you were still in the infirmary, can you… can you talk?”

 

She huffed and regretted it instantly. “Yes. Where have you been?” Her voice was raspy but it worked fine enough.

 

“I talked with Yasai. What´s this?” He pointed at the patch. She removed it shortly for him to look at.

 

“By talking I hope you mean beating the shit out of her.”

 

He looked away guiltily. Of course. If he hadn´t been such a damn coward she wouldn’t sit here like this. “No, we talked about my transformation.”

 

“Great idea. After she tried to murder me!”

 

“She only did that because I didn´t power up! She doesn´t care about you. She doesn´t care about killing you.”

 

Bra looked away, her mouth barely managed a meager smile. “How reassuring. That the murderers on this ship don´t want to waste their energy on me. Oh, don´t look at me like that! What do you think Youzi and her crew were doing on that planet?”

 

Goten stared at her for a while before he turned around and threw a tablet on his bed.

 

“What´s that?”

 

Goten looked at her shortly. “Got the translator and some language learning program on it. They speak two languages and we´re supposed to learn them.”

 

Bra frowned. That was… “Why? Goten, what did you tell them?”

 

“Just what you wanted me to do anyway. I agreed to teach them how to become a super saiyan. That way they can defeat Freeza themselves and we can leave earlier.”

 

Bra felt her mouth run dry. “You… what? WHAT? I didn´t tell you to do that! Why would you agree to that? Are you out of your mind?”

 

“Oh, I´m sorry I´m not doing what you _told_ me. Glad you´re fine.” He walked past her, into the little bathroom. Bra immediately got up and grabbed the tablet. She had to learn those languages, and fast. No way she would stay longer than necessary. She had to save them both.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for this chapter: Some not very graphic f/f sex scene.

Yasai stretched her legs on the couch. During travel she always had way too little occasions to get out of her uniform and she highly enjoyed wearing some loose pants and a sweatshirt.

 

“How can you not wear socks, it´s freezing.”

 

Yasai nudged Nasu who was sitting next to her, caught up in texting someone. “You know the heating eats up too much fuel and I always have to listen to the rants when we use more than our share.”

 

Nasu rolled his eyes. “Just your quarters… or mine.” He looked up, a sly grin on his face. “I´m not a big fan of the idea that superiors should suffer the same fate as everyone else.”

 

Yasai huffed, nudging him away. “Whatever, it´s winter in Vegeta-machi at this time of the year anyway, won´t be such a temperature shock. Come on now, put the phone away! We have a new episode of Deep Space Love affair to watch!”

 

“About that…” He did put his phone away, but somehow she doubted he wanted to talk about telenovelas. “I don’t think we should bring them to Vegeta-sei. You saw how strong he was!”

 

And it had been beautiful. Just thinking about it warmed Yasai´s heart. “Nasu… he´ll help us. Don´t worry.”

 

“You don´t know that!”

 

She stretched and settled down more comfortable. “What would you have done? Hm? You landed somewhere and someone threatened your, I don´t know, your son. What would you have done?”

 

Nasu´s face turned dark. He knew the answer. “Immediately killed them all.”

 

“And here we are, alive and well. I just told him to back off and he did. He´s strong, but he´s a useless fighter. Whoever showed him how to do that was a lousy teacher. He won´t kill anyone.”

 

Nasu huffed. “As long as that girl is around.”

 

“If anything, she´s more dangerous. But she´s weak. And they are fighting, right?”

 

“They were screaming at each other a few times but I didn´t translate it. What´s your point, Yasai? Wanna kill the girl?”

 

Her point… “No… she could still be useful. But the more they argue, the more we get a chance to keep Gohtin. He already told me he can teach us, I mean did you ever consider training?”

 

“He could tell us anything! We could all be lying at each other and no one would be any wiser!” Nasu crossed his arms, trying his best to ruin her great mood.

 

“Come on now, his power is real. Just let me take care of it and let´s watch this damn episode, I´ve waited a month for it!”

 

Nasu didn´t show much enthusiasm but he didn´t complain any more. At least something. When he left later, Yasai quickly sent a message to Commander Nappa, to make sure he would clear his schedule for her arrival. She had a feeling he would be delighted by the news.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“No, you read the sign wrong, try again!”

 

Goten groaned and flopped back down on his bed. “My head is going to explode, I need a break!”

 

“And I need to learn this damn language! Get a grip!”

 

Goten just rolled over and put his pillow over his head. “Got enough time for that.” Maybe. But they were already gone for 13 days and Bra didn´t want to extend it much longer. It would be easier if they could talk properly and she already got the hang of the relevant basics of both languages. It was easier with a partner, though.

 

“Goten! Get up! You made the mess worse so you could at least… he grabbed her phone from the small shelf at the end of the room and put the headphones in. Bra took a deep breath, trying to get her anger under control. Otherwise she might have used the pillow to strangle him. She continued for another hour or so while Goten skipped through her phone. She didn´t care, there wasn´t anything particularly private on it and that way he couldn´t distract her. It was already two days and the bruises on her neck were only a faint green anymore. They hadn´t managed a decent conversation, particularly because Bra didn´t trust Goten with any decisions anymore. Instead… she had decided to take matters in her own hands.

 

A few hours later, after another exhausting walk to the mess and back she waited until Goten fell asleep. It was already easier to move and she saw no reason to wait any longer. It wasn´t her style to passively wait around and after the incident with Yasai she was particularly convinced that they couldn´t rely on those people. After Goten´s breathing had been soft and constant for a few minutes, she quietly slipped off her bed and put her overall back on. They had gotten underwear and T-shirts as well, everything seemed to be the standard uniform. And for her hair… she pulled them up into a tight bun and untangled her scarf from her bag. She had kept it there for decoration, it was too humid in Southeast City to wear too many layers, but now… it took her a few attempts to wrap it around her head decently, but her hair was covered. As long as no one looked her too deep in the eyes… and by her calculation it should be night shift on the ship anyway. The days seemed to be over 30 hours long and it messed with their biorhythm, but they were getting used to it. When she was done, she went outside and slowly walked in a direction she had never taken so far.

 

The ship was big. It was better to get to know it.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

It was barely anyone around. She could read the signs, finally, and she was in the dormitory wing. Tons of tiny rooms just like theirs, full of dutifully sleeping saiyans… well, mostly. The noises from some of the rooms indicated that they still knew how to have a little fun. When she finally reached the end of the wing she got into one of the elevators and drove down. She figured that the tiny transporters had to be somewhere on the outer layers of the ship and it wouldn´t hurt to locate them. The elevator stopped after three stories though and Bra immediately looked down to avoid eye contact. There was nothing on the uniform to show rank, if she was lucky she could just…

 

“Bura!”

 

So much to that. Bra tried not to grimace too badly when she looked up at Youzi. Of all people…

 

“Going?” It was all Bra understood. She frowned, relatively certain she knew what Youzi meant. Youzi just laughed, pressed the button for a floor higher than Bra had been before and took out her phone. When the elevator opened again, Youzi pulled Bra by her sleeve outside. “Eat? Ehm…” She made a gesture like smoking a cigarette. Bra nodded. That sounded like a good alibi.

 

“Food? Direction?” Bra gestured around. Youzi´s eyes widened with delight and she pulled Bra further. She blabbered the whole time, but Bra barely understood anything. When they reached another mess hall, Youzi looked around sneakily and led her behind the counter. She pulled her phone out again, said something and held it out to Bra.

 

“ _Best – food – hidden – sneak – me – you”_

Another translator… not what she had planned for the evening, but there was no elegant way out. And… Youzi was at least a familiar face.

 

Half an hour later they were sitting on the floor behind the counter and Bra felt delightfully satisfied. Youzi had been right, the stuff they served every day was bland and boring and the good stuff was hidden. Maybe for more important people or maybe for special days, but all Bra cared about was that the cake had been the best thing she had ever eaten. It had red fruit in it and almost tasted like strawberries. Bra barely registered when Youzi got up. She let her head roll over and watched Youzi lazily as she went to one of the vending machines. If she could only find a container to bring Goten a piece as well…

 

“Bura!” Youzi held two packs of cigarettes out to her. She was an angel. That was for sure. Her own cigarettes had run out on day three and only her suffering with the gravity had made her ignore the withdrawal symptoms.

 

“Bura _leaving – next – shift – gift – for you”_

 

Bra looked at her, sadly. She had wondered if they were stationed on this ship or not. Well, at least she had gotten some food out of it.

 

“ _Not – be – sad”_

Bra tried to hide her short burst of laughter with a cough. Youzi was the only person she knew and she had been more or less friendly. She wouldn´t waste another thought on her though if she never saw Youzi again. Bra quickly took another drag of her cigarette before it got awkward. That moment, Youzi put her arm around Bra´s shoulders and pulled her closer. So much to that. She looked up, surprised and Youzi definitely took it as an invitation and kissed her.

 

Bra didn´t move. Youzi tasted like cake and if she just closed her eyes, she could imagine it was… Youzi´s hand stroked down her throat and Bra flinched away. She took another drag of her cigarette and shrugged. The bruises were faint but still visible.

 

Youzi pressed her lips together, displeased, but she still hadn´t let go of Bra. “Wanna…?”

 

Bra shrugged. Why not. Why the hell not. She finished her cigarette with a last drag and threw it into one of the empty food containers before she kissed Youzi again.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“Damn…” The floor was freaking cold under her back and the sweat that was sticking to her skin made it even worse. Youzi had been delightfully sucking every bit of skin she found, leaving a wet trail down her stomach. Not for the first time Bra wondered what was going on on her dad´s home planet if they collectively thought some degrees above freezing were a nice temperature.

 

“Fuck!” Youzi had quickly pulled down her panties and went right to work without any warning. She giggled when she ruffled through Bra´s pubic hair. It was blue. Bra regretted that she hadn’t learned the words for ‘don´t laugh so stupidly’ already. She leaned back on the cold floor again. Youzi knew what she was doing and Bra had no interest in dragging it out either. It didn´t feel all that amazing if someone else was doing it. She didn´t want to think of Pan and she had managed fine to ignore every thought that had popped up in the last two weeks, but… sleeping with someone else, that was cementing it. That it was over. Bra felt her throat tighten and it took a lot of resolve not to start crying. The orgasm washed over her quickly, just as unsatisfying as everything else. Youzi looked up, a grin on her face as she licked her lips clean. At least someone was happy.

 

With a grunt, Bra got on her knees. She would finish it quickly and then leave. She was done for the night. Youzi didn´t seem to mind when Bra pulled her zipper down and tried to pull the overall down far enough to reach into her panties. There were some faint scars on Youzi´s very toned body and a thick line of hair that started at her navel and ended in a curly black bush. So much hair… Raising her eyebrows Bra pushed Youzi until she sat down, Bra´s hand already exploring. She didn´t kiss Youzi again, she wasn´t in the mood and Youzi wasn´t hard to rile up anyway. Bra had always been good with her fingers, and now some stranger could enjoy it. Youzi was over the edge in a few minutes, panting hard, her face flushed. Bra eyed her hand with mild disgust, not sure where she could wipe it off when Youzi grabbed her and licked her fingers clean.

 

“Kinky.” Youzi frowned, completely confused until Bra couldn’t help herself and started laughing. This could´ve been fun. In any other time… with a huff Bra got up and put her clothes back on. She hesitated a second and quickly bowed before Youzi. “Thanks.”

Youzi understood that.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Goten was sitting on his bed when she came in. She rolled her eyes, already knowing what was about to come.

 

“Where were you?”

 

“Looking at the ship. Here.” She threw him one of her packs. She had worked hard for it, he better be grateful.

 

“Looking at the ship? You can´t just wander around here! And where do you…?” He threw the pack away, trying to look intimidating. _Trying._

 

“Why not? Are we prisoners? Those were a gift.”

 

He looked at it again and she could almost hear the gears in his brain working. “From whom? You…” He got closer. Bra resisted the urge to take a step back. “Seems like you were very busy.”

 

“I tried to get an overview of the ship. We should at least know where we are.”

 

“Did that include a little fuck in the broom closet? No wonder Pan broke up with you.”

 

The slap sounded awfully loud in her ears. It made the silence even worse afterwards.

 

“Don´t dare to speak to me like that again.” He didn´t stop her when she walked into the shower and didn´t talk to her when she came back out.

 

She tried to sleep, but… “Goten… how did you know?”

 

He didn´t react for so long she was sure he was asleep already. “Pan is my niece. I knew you were dating. And she had been… you were miserable back then, I put two and two together.”

 

“Ah.” She stared at the blank wall until her mind finally shut off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter this week since I didn´t post during the holidays! But don´t get used to it, I´m sure I can´t keep it up haha. See you next time!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the reviews! I never had a story where all the reviewers speculate and it is amazing! I can´t tell you though if you´re thinking in the right direction since it would spoil too much. Anyway, have fun!

Bra had stopped talking to him altogether. He knew that she was annoyed with him, but he didn’t really know what she expected him to do. It probably didn’t even matter, because everything he did was wrong anyway. She hadn’t stopped snooping around on the ship. No one had seemed to care about it since he really couldn´t believe that no one had noticed it.

 

Goten rolled around on his bed. He understood her. In some way, he understood her need to do something. He just... He still wasn’t sure that this was all real. Nothing made sense, no one acted in a way that he could understand. Yasai hadn’t asked him to train her right away, she hadn´t even talked to him again. He had told her most of what he knew about Super Saiyans, how it was able to achieve it for everyone, though he wasn´t even sure if that was true, that training would help, and strong emotions, and that he could show her. But that was it. She had been delighted, at first, at least he thought she had been. But nothing followed.

 

And no one asked them anything. He thought someone would be curious, they hadn´t even been asked their ages or anything. They were headed for Vegeta-sei, that was all Yasai had told him, with another stop in between. It could be all the questioning was delayed until then, until they could talk properly, until someone higher up than Yasai was available. It was just… it was easier to imagine it wasn´t all real after all. His life had been… pleasant. He hadn´t really appreciated it before he landed here, but now that he got so much time to think, just lying around in the little prison cell they had been assigned to, he realized that it had been exactly that. His job was working out well, his last novel had been a decent success. He was on good terms with his family, his friendship with Trunks hadn´t suffered much after Trunks had married and…

 

Goten grinned. He had known about Bra and Pan. Trunks had told him, Pan had occasionally slipped a remark. But he hadn´t seen Bra in almost four years and that was the only thing he regretted. It would´ve made everything a lot easier. If he had Trunks with him… but Trunks was currently expecting his third daughter and if they never made it back…

 

He turned around again. Only some people would miss them. But that was okay.  He had tried to… he wasn´t the most experienced person in the world when it came to relationships, most of what he had had in the past were some casual flings. But it wasn´t hard to lend an ear and Bra was so private and careful it probably would help if she just got it out of her system. They had enough to deal with, they really didn´t need her baggage as well. Every time though he interrupted their language lessons and tried to switch the topic she completely ignored it. As if she didn´t want to understand that they were both in this and they had to stick together because there was no one else.

 

He got up. Bra was out, god knows where. He hadn´t asked, she wouldn´t have told him anyway. Snooping around was unlikely, it was the middle of the day, so maybe she was banging someone else for stress relief. He understood the need, but then again she knew nothing of those people, they could even have some weird alien STDs. Goten groaned and rubbed his face. Bra would be the death of him. And he still would try to do everything to get them out of this mess.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Goten took his tray and looked around the room. There was someone sitting alone, a bit to the left and close to the door. He wasn´t staring at his phone or whatever they had here, so Goten figured he was allowed to talk to him.

 

“Hello. Sit here?” Goten pointed to the seat and waited for approval. The other one was looking up, his black eyes big and surprised. He had a buzzcut and really thick eyebrows, wonderfully framed with two equally big ears. Goten smiled at him, hoping it would help.

 

“Yeah.” His voice was very deep and hard to understand. Goten sighed silently and hoped it would work out as he had planned.

 

“…You …colony?”

 

Goten only understood a few words, but it was enough to make sense. “No, no colony. Somewhere else.” He paused for a second. “Goten.”

 

“No colony? Mum colony.” Big ears grinned widely. “Goten name? I Negi.”

 

“Yes, name.” Well, they did ask questions if they were confronted… that was good. “You friend colony blue eyes?”

 

Goten frowned. He wasn´t sure he understood what Negi wanted from him. “Sorry?”

 

“What sorry? No sorry. Your friend, blue eyes?”

 

Goten´s eyes widened. “Oh, Bra! She is my friend. Yes.”

 

Negi nodded slowly, shoving some food in his mouth. Goten did the same. It was bland but it filled up quickly and he was really hungry.

 

“You people sex asking? Or sex only with partner? My mum colony only sex with partner.”

 

Goten coughed, some of his food had taken a wrong turn. Had he just been asked… “Bra and I not partner.”

 

“Great! She okay for sex?”

 

Goten stared at Negi for a few seconds. He wasn´t sure if Negi wanted to know if Bra was a prostitute or asking him for permission to fuck her, either way it wouldn´t happen. “No, she is not. She has partner on planet.”

 

Negi´s face turned sour. Goten was also pretty sure Bra wasn´t into guys at all.

 

“Blue eyes Saiyan never seen. Is great.” He shrugged. “You sex her?”

 

“No.” That explained why more people stared at them when they walked around the ship together. He hadn´t paid attention since everyone was wearing the same uniform, but now that Negi pointed it out, Goten noticed it as well. There were a few Saiyans with blond or brown hair, but all of them had black eyes. He should give Bra a hint.

 

“Food tastes boring.”

 

Negi stopped his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. “Yeah Gohtin me colony food good so much we have…”

 

Goten didn´t understand anything that followed, except that wherever Negi was from everything tasted great. It hadn´t gone exactly as planned but it hadn´t been completely useless. And hearing someone chatter while eating wasn´t all that bad after the stony silence from Bra.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Two days later and he hadn´t found an opportunity to tell Bra anything of significance at all. Somehow, her mood had become even worse and she barely even wanted to do the language lessons with him. He preferred practicing without her anyway. Unfortunately, he hadn´t been able to get much out of the Saiyans he met at the mess as well. One other guy had asked about Bra as well, one of the women had immediately stopped talking when he had asked her where the ship was going and another guy had used the opportunity to blabber about how cold it was on the ship and on _other_ ships it wasn´t that cold. There was some hidden social commentary that Goten couldn´t understand thanks to lack of context so he just nodded. It was freezing cold on the ship, that´s for sure.

 

The next day he smiled at the girl who was handing out the food and she smiled right back, so bright it was radiating. Goten took a quick look behind, no one was in line, before he decided to try another tactic.

 

“Thank you for food.”

 

She smiled even brighter. She had really big teeth. “Yes. But not taste good. Mensa food.” She rolled her eyes. Her thick, black hair was braided and rolled up in a huge bun. It looked like someone had pooped on her head.

 

“Same everywhere.” They both laughed. It was ridiculous. He wondered how old the girl was.

 

“You wanna meet later? I have shift three hours.”

 

“Yes. I come back later.” Goten gave her his best dashing smile, a bit diminished by the stupid beard he couldn´t cut thanks to his lack of a razor, but the girl didn´t seem to mind. She just hugged her laddle and stared at him until he sat down.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“Me Budou.”

 

“I´m Goten.” Budou had already been sitting in the mess, still in her kitchen uniform. When she had seen him, she had grabbed him by the arm and dragged him halfway across the ship to another kitchen. Not what he had expected, but he would wait and let things play out.

 

“You colony, right? Me Vegeta-sei, have learned cooking where good food best food!”

 

Goten acted surprised and nodded. She started rummaging in the kitchen drawers and pulled out some pots. So she was going to make him something to eat? At least he didn´t have to fend off unwanted sexual attention. Especially since she was probably still a teenager. Though the night was still young…

 

“Me make you better food mensa food is…” She rolled her eyes. “Cheap. Like heat. Everything cheap.”

 

 _Not another rant about the temperature…_ “Budou, what is this ship?”

 

Budou stopped for a moment with her preparations and turned around. “Ship of Commander Yasai. Soldiers for Commander Yasai. You not know? I only here cooking.”

 

That didn´t help at all, but Budou was busy and started chatting about food so he decided it was best to wait until she was done. Half an hour later he was almost lulled to sleep by her voice and the clattering of kitchenware. He hardly understood anything she said, but it reminded him of home somehow.

 

“Gohtin! Food done!”

 

Goten she gave them curiously. It looks like some kind of grains with yellow vegetables, but it could’ve been some meat as well. He took a bite, and…

 

“This is… very good!” He would’ve said a lot of other adjectives, but he didn’t know them in her language. She was delighted nonetheless, and grinned with her big bright teeth again. Maybe he could take some with him…

 

“Why you here colony Gohtin?”

 

He looked up. So he wasn’t the only one who was curious. “I… we help Yasai.”

 

Budou’s eyes got wide and she immediately sat straighter. “What? Wow. You not know ship, but you help. How?”

 

Oh that was fabulous. He could hardly tell her the truth. He shrugged, and continued eating. She understood the hint and stopped asking questions. Instead, she started talking again. He understood a few things about her home, and food, and more food, and he slowly realized that it was the only thing the girl wanted to talk about. It hadn’t been successful, but at least he’s gotten something out of it. It was probably more than Bra had managed so far.

 

And when he got back to his room, she was indeed sitting on her bed. What a rare sight.

 

“I got something for you.”

 

Bra looked up from the tablet, her eyebrows raised suspiciously. “And what?” Her gaze drifted down to the container in his hand.

 

“Managed to get some food. It’s not from the mess.” Well, she didn’t complain about that. She immediately took the container and started digging in. The noises she made while eating showed him that she appreciated it.

 

“So, have you found out something interesting?”

 

Bra looked up, the last pieces of grain still sticking to her face. “What? Don’t say you actually care?” She grinned at him, wide and scary. He liked Budou’s smiled better.

 

“I never said I don’t care, I just wanted you to be careful. I mean, these people here are weird. You don’t know what to expect.” He leaned back, sighing. That had went well… “It's just... no one asked us any questions. They asked where we come from, but besides that nothing. Not how old we are or what we do for a living or anything at all.”

 

Bra stared at him. “Guess of they just don’t care.”

 

“They want me to train them. They should care at least a little.” It was futile. The first time they talked in days, and they were already on the defense. “Anyway, I talked to a few people here, to get a feel for what we have to deal with.”

 

Bra snorted. “Guess what I’ve been trying to do. But no one wants to talk to me, they all just want to fuck me.”

 

“It’s because of your blue eyes. Everyone has black eyes.” He hesitated for a second. She had been wearing her scarf on her head… “But… You know that already, right?”

 

“Yeah. At least you figured something out. Or is there more?”

 

Goten rubbed his knee. “Everyone likes to talk about food and how cold it is. When I ask questions about the ship, they stop talking. Don’t know the reason for that.”

 

“Hm.” Bra let her eyes wander around the room. “I found a recreational deck, with a view of the stars. We should go there.”

 

Maybe it was a thanks for the food. Or maybe Bra really wasn’t mad at him anymore. Either way, he was sick of sitting around in the tiny room anyways. Bra put her scarf on her head again, and led the way. They met a few people, but most of them didn’t bother to stare at them.

 

“How’s it going with the gravity? I think it’s up to 10 G now.”

 

“It’s fine.” She shortly looked up. “You know, they don’t only stare at me. No one has a beard here.”

 

“Ah, don´t they like my new hipster look! Should´ve gotten me a razor then!” He grinned and Bra giggled and he almost felt as if they were back home again.

 

It took them only a few minutes to get to the deck. It was a medium size room, curving slightly and a few soft benches were arranged in a line parallel to the huge window. And… it was a sight worth watching. Goten felt a slight pang of anxiety when he looked at it, just a window separating them from the nothingness, though the beauty of it was overwhelming.

 

“Wow…”

 

“Said so. Don’t know how we´re travelling that you can still see the stars but it´s pretty impressive. It´s like diamonds.”

 

Goten managed to get his eyes away from the view for a second just to see Bra smiling a tiny little bit.

 

“The bench over there is pretty secluded.” She picked on his sleeve when he didn´t move immediately. “The window is all the way around, come on.”

 

Bra had been right, the benches were very comfy and from where they sat they could see most of the room but not everyone immediately saw them.

 

“Listen, this is some military vessel, but I haven´t found out what they are doing here exactly. We´re on our way to a planet called Dunja, but I also don´t know why or for what. Every time I ask someone they look irritated and leave. I guess they think we´re not allowed to know otherwise we would know already.”

 

It made sense, somehow. He could just ask Yasai, in the end she wanted something from him not the other way around.

 

“It´s probably important, since Yasai didn´t want to see us again. You haven´t started training her yet, right?”

 

“No…” Not that he hadn´t thought about it. “It´s dangerous to try it in space.”

 

Bra looked at him incredulously. “I guess.” She paused shortly and fished a cigarette out of her breast pocket. “So the ship is huge, but there are mostly areas for the crew. There are also a lot of restricted hallways, you need keycards or something. Haven´t found a hangar yet. A ship this size should have a few, it´s a bit weird.” She fished something else out of her side pocket. A little booklet.

 

“What´s this?”

 

“Map of the ship. Can take it in the mess halls. It´s only for the quarters, though.”

 

Well, she had been busy, that´s for sure. Goten absentmindedly skipped through it. It still didn´t help at all. They couldn´t leave and even if, they had nowhere to go. They should just stay put. With a sigh, he handed it back at Bra. Bra only leaned back and quietly finished smoking.

 

“I´m sorry for what I said. About you and Pan.”

 

Bra rubbed the stub out in the ashtray next to the bench.

 

“Okay. I´m not sorry for the slap.”

 

Goten grinned. He probably had deserved that.

 

“You…” She rubbed her forehead and grabbed another cigarette. It was nice to see that she could be nervous as well. “Did Pan talk to you? Has she mentioned something, that she was unhappy or… I don´t know.”

 

Her eyes were so blue. No wonder those people were so mesmerized by it.

 

“No. I mean, I don´t see her that often and she had occasionally mentioned that she was meeting with you for lunch or something and lately she had just said that a lot was going on for her and that she was stressed. But nothing in particular. I just guessed.”

 

Bra´s mouth twitched, but it wasn´t a proper smile. “Well. Good guess.” She was quiet for a while again. Goten´s gaze wandered back to the stars. He wondered if they were still in the milky way or somewhere else.  He wondered what the people here called the galaxy.

 

“I didn´t know something wasn´t right.”   
  
Goten´s head jerked back. She sounded so small and vulnerable.

 

“I thought it was alright. I thought we would… stay together.” She huffed. He hoped she wouldn´t start crying. “And now we´re stuck here and who knows if we ever make it back and the last thing I talked with her was… she said that she was unhappy, but not why!” Bra made a wild gesture with her hand and ash was flying down on the couch. Goten carefully rubbed it away.

 

“And I didn´t even… I said nothing. I thought there was nothing to say. I thought maybe a few days and she could think about it. And now we´re here and if I never see her again that would be the last  thing she would remember about me! Me not saying anything, looking as if I don´t care! I do care!” She threw the stump into the ashtray to the other one, her mouth pressed together in a bitter line. Goten wasn´t sure if he was supposed to say anything or if it would even comfort her, so he just carefully put his arm around her. Bra didn´t shove him off. It was nice, feeling her warmth seep through his layers of chilly clothing. He had forgotten how familiar it felt, back then when Bra had been more of his little sister, a little bit annoying but still a part of his family.

 

“Don´t worry. We´ll make it back. As long as we work together we´ll find a way. I promise.”

 

Bra made a non-committal sound. It was ok. They would be ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I estimate two more chapters until they are on Vegeta-sei! You probably noticed that it took me longer than a week to write this one. It´s awfully busy right now and I do my best, but please understand that I can´t always stick to my own deadline.  
> Anyway, hope you had fun and I´m excited to read your predictions this time!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot the names last time:
> 
> Negi – jap. for leek  
> Budou – jap. for grape
> 
> Have fun!

"I´m not happy about how I left things either.”

Bra didn´t react. She had hoped that Goten could tell her something that she hadn´t known, something that would make it a bit easier. So that she had something to hope for if they make it back somehow. Instead he only offered platitudes and wondered why she didn´t want to discuss her plans with him!

“Ah. What about?”

“It´s obvious, isn´t it?” He laughed and Bra wanted to punch him. _Obviously_. “I hadn´t planned on being away. I would´ve left a note or something. I hope everyone´s not too worried.”

They probably thought she needed some alone time. She wondered when someone would start to actually question her absence. Maybe a few weeks. Not yet anyway.

“Think they are going to look for us? I mean, our dad´s are friends with the gods…” Bra wasn´t sure if she wanted to have her dad find her. In the end she could just listen to a rant about how it was her own fault and that she shouldn´t behave like that and _anyway…_ “They can travel between universes.”

“If they even want to help.”

Bra looked up. Goten didn´t look all that concerned. The anger rose up so quickly she immediately pushed his arm away and sat up straight again.

“Bra, are you alright?” Goten eyed her warily.

“Yeah. I´m tired, I´m going back. Are you coming or do you think you´ll find your way?”

“I… I´ll stay a bit longer. Are you sure…?”

“YES. Goodnight.” She wasn´t in the mood to reassure him and if she stayed a second longer she knew she couldn´t restrain herself. As if he didn´t have any worry in the world! Bra stomped out of the room but instead of going back she took a turn left to the elevator and stopped at the lowest level. She hadn´t been there yet. And she couldn´t go back to that prison cell or she would start tearing down the walls. She couldn´t understand it, how Goten was happy with just sitting around. He could talk to Yasai, what was keeping him? Instead of some stupid girl from the kitchen who knew nothing!

The halls were broader and brightly lit, and when she reached the end it opened into a huge hall. There were terminals and some people were sitting lazily around and chatting. Bra immediately stopped and made a few steps back. She grabbed for the next door and it opened without a sound. It looked like a locker room. The lockers were labeled with numbers and there were different uniforms in it. Not the overalls, it looked more like flight suits.

Bra smiled, so broad it hurt in the corners of her mouth. Goten was such an idiot. Yes, it had been her idea to eliminate Freeza so that the Saiyans would help them. But knowing Yasai now, she wasn´t so sure if it would happen. That bitch was only interested in her own gain and knowing how to make a quick retreat would be incredibly helpful. It couldn´t take them that much longer to reach Dunja, it had already been 16 days since they had boarded the ship.

She touched one of the flight suits. It felt heavy. Shrugging, she left it were it was and went to the door on the other end of the room. It opened into another hallway that ended in a huge, heavy door. It opened not so quietly and Bra barely suppressed a curse. She slipped inside and hoped no one had noticed her yet. It had been days of her walking around and no one had bothered her. Either they didn´t care or they didn´t have surveillance. But maybe they would change their mind if they caught her in the hangar. And that´s what she finally found.

There weren´t many ships inside. Some pods, some huge transporters, and some medium size vessels. She carefully looked around, but there was no one in sight. After a few more seconds, she carefully walked out into the open and towards the nearest ship, one of the bigger vessels. It didn´t open, so she tried the next one until she managed to get one of the smaller ones open. She sat down in the cockpit, looking for something familiar. The buttons were mostly unlabelled and she couldn´t find a manual. After a few minutes she gave up and leaned back. So that was it. Dead end. She could press around on the buttons but she already had enough flight experience to know that it would likely not end well. And she never had needed to enter an atmosphere.

The people at the terminals were probably flight control. They wouldn´t let her out anyway. With a sigh, Bra got up again and walked back to the huge door, not caring how loud it was this time. When she exited the locker room, two tall men were waiting outside, staring at her with blank faces.

“Guess I should follow you?”

“Yes.”

Well. It had been inevitable anyway.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yasai was sitting there stoically, but Bra could almost feel the smugness. When Bra sat down, Yasai shortly lifted her hands and let them fall down back on her thighs.

“Bura. What are you doing? Aren’t we treating you right?”

Bra huffed. What she serious? “Am I a prisoner? Am I not allowed to walk around?” She raised eyebrows, waiting for reply. Yasai smiled, toothy and not very nice.

“I don’t care if you walk around the ship. I’m just curious what you were trying to do in one of my transporters. Can you fly them?”

Bra leaned back. So Yasai did have questions in the right circumstances. “No. That’s why I’m still here.”

Yasai leaned back. “You speak well. Both languages?”

“Yes. Both.” They had talked in what Bra presumed to be the standard language, since it was fairly easy but the words didn´t match that well. They had switched to the other one, the one that sounded harsher, the one with the complicated structure, the one that was easier to pronounce for her. Vegeta-go. “Why do you ask?”

“You didn’t know the language before, right? That’s impressive.”

“I guess. I’m very smart. But you figured that one out, right? And I guess you have already figured out that I haven’t lied about my heritage. Are we related?”

Yasai smiled again. When she spoke, it almost sounded like a whisper. “Yes. Unsurprisingly.”

Well. She certainly was self-confident. That was something Bra could respect.

“Bura, I don’t need you here. If you want, I´ll give you the manual for one of my transporters. We´ll arrive at Dunja in two days. You’re free to leave.”

“So generous. Won’t you miss your ship?” Yasai wouldn’t let her leave just like that. Bra knew there was something behind it.

“You can take it for a ride. If you don’t want to leave Gohtin behind.”

Yasai grabbed one of the booklets from the table and threw it in front of bra. Bra eyed it for a few seconds before she took it. _Transporter RT-452 Medium size Line Des 45 Manual._ She looked up again. Yasai was so confident that everything was going as she wanted it to be. She didn´t know who she was dealing with.

“Thanks. Can I leave?”

Yasai waved her hand. “Have fun with that. You know where to find the ships.”

Bra gave her a fake smile and left the room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The flight personal hadn´t been very forthcoming but she got her ship. They just got into a stable orbit around Dunja. Yasai had already left and everything was ready. She knew how much time she had, she had some money, she spoke the standard language well enough. With a deep breath, Bra started the ship. She hadn´t been able to practice since she couldn´t leave the ship while they were travelling, so she wasn´t sure if she would make it. But like hell she wouldn´t try! It went up without a problem and she navigated out of the hangar easily. It was bulky, but it was close enough to flying a plane. Though when she started entering the atmosphere, the whole ship started shaking wildly.  Bra was barely able to hold onto the console while she was pressed forcefully into her seat. There was no way this was normal. She tried to slow down a bit, but the shaking got worse. There had to be… the shaking stopped. She was through it. But for next time… Sighing, she made a quick check but all systems were okay. And then she looked up.

It wasn´t what she had expected. There was a large city under a grey-blue sky. And it was raining like hell. From the sky it didn´t look different from Earth. The city was brightly illuminated, she saw some roads and wondered why the people here still used vehicles that couldn´t hover and there was a mountain range, tiny on the horizon.

Her messaging system started beeping. Bra pressed the button carefully.

“ _RT-452 please land in Section C – 85. RT-452 please land in …”_

“Understood.” She had no idea where it was, but she was confident she would find it. There couldn´t be too many…

One hour later and half her money gone for the parking fee she finally managed to get outside the dock. Only four left… she had quite a list of things to do and she didn´t even know where to start. Well, if all options should run out she could still use her charm.

From the ground level, the city was quite different to Earth after all. All transport took place above ground and left the streets open to pedestrians. It was warm, so warm that Bra almost felt uncomfortable after the freezing temperatures on Yasai´s ship. It was a bit like Southeast City, humid and busy and so much rain, she was soaked in seconds. But the smell wasn´t right. The air was different, even the rain. Only the gravity was a bit lighter than on the ship and Bra managed to breathe deeply and freely for the first time in two weeks. Navigating was hard, since all the houses in the proximity were covered completely in something that looked like advertisement, but she wasn´t sure. It could just as well be something cultural or religious. It´s not as if she knew anything about Dunja. But she instantly realized that her uniform made her stick out, and not in a good way. It made her first stop an easy pick and she really needed an umbrella.

Half an hour later she had managed to acquire three huge bags of clothes. Half of it was for Goten, who definitely wouldn´t appreciate it but she decided to be so nice anyway. It was hard to figure out what the popular fashion was in a place she didn´t know anything about, so she had taken the first store with prices that sounded reasonable. The people on the planet mostly looked like humans, the skin a bit pinker, some of them almost purple, and their eyes were huge. The proportions were the same, though. The salesperson helped her pick something out that was meant for women and didn´t clash too badly with her blue hair. She also got more scarves. The one from her bag was too slippery and too flowery for everyday use. Somehow Bra suspected that it was better to keep it going when they finally arrive Vegeta-sei. Though it hadn´t been that easy to get one with a plain pattern. The people of Dunja definitely were into bright colours and bold patterns. Bra finally left in a pair of leggings with a yellow-green circular pattern all over it and something like a wide tunic with a rectangular explosion in dark blue. It was comfortable though, and it was better than the uniform.

Bra wasted another hour trying to find a place to eat that didn´t look too suspicious until she went to look for a shop to waste the rest of her two hours. She hadn´t even started with the most important part: Gathering information.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first thing Yasai did when she was back in her office was throwing off the cape. The second was sitting down and waiting for Nasu. Her visit on Dunja had gone as expected, the president had given her the annual report and a short overview, nothing unusual had happened. Something else had been much more interesting…

“Is she back?”

Nasu sat down, clearly annoyed. “Yes. Looks like she just went shopping. Had a few bags. The ship is fine. Has she passed?”

Yasai waved her hand. “Don´t be so pissed. It´s just a few more days to Vegeta-sei and I need to make a good case. We have to present something.”

“Just throw her out and present the super saiyan. Or, even better, throw them both out and let´s forget all of this nonsense even happened.”

After she had seen it there was no way she wouldn´t try and get it for herself. She couldn´t understand how Nasu didn´t see it the same. Besides, Gohtin had told her that he had trained to become a super saiyan, but there was no way that was true. No one could advance that much beyond their regular power level, there had to be something else. She needed permission though to temporarily give up her command to figure it out and without offering a good reason she could forget it. And now Bura had given her the perfect opportunity.

“Aren´t you interested in becoming stronger than Lord Freeza?” She felt a shiver run over her skin by the sheer thought of it.

“Honestly, I´m more interested in taking your command while you figure it out. We´re a good team, but I´d like my own ship someday.”

Such petty wishes. She shrugged, gesturing him to start with his report.

“She started right after we left and flew the ship well, entered the atmosphere violently but without damage…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?”

Bra tried to put down her bags calmly. She couldn´t remember having seen Goten so furiously before and if she was completely honest, she was a bit frightened by the display.

“Can you imagine how I felt when I thought you were running around the ship again and then I overheard some people talking that the _blue mixed had left the ship?_ ”

“Goten, I was just…”

He grabbed her by the arms, shaking her more violently than was comfortable. “You just what? I thought you just pissed off and left me here to try some of your stupid bullshit again! Why didn´t you tell me?” He shook her again. It made her brain hurt. He stared at her for a few seconds before he pushed her away. Maybe he had been really worried. Maybe this time…

“I´m sorry.” When he didn´t react, she took a step forward. “Listen, I talked to Yasai and…”

“You did? When?” He eyed the bags shortly. He must´ve noticed her wearing something else.

“Two days ago.”

“And you hadn´t considered telling me?” He ran his hands over his face. His beard had gotten really long and she just realized she had forgotten to look for razors…

“Goten, not for nothing but you haven´t given me the impression as if you wanted to do anything at the moment! If I had told you that I could leave the ship you would have just told me not to!”

“And you would have listened?”

She huffed and crossed her arms. “Believe it or not, I´m kind of sick of fighting with you. I haven´t abandoned you. I went and bought some clothes. AND” She held her finger up, daring him to speak. “I bought something like a tablet and as much on history books and news magazines I could find. I mean, it´s all online, but some person at the electronics bookstore I think it was helped me with the selection. So that we´re not completely at the mercy of our scheming savior anymore. That´s good, right?”

He looked so pained it made her almost feel bad. He looked too much like Pan that way. She hated it.

“Bra, please don’t do that again. It´s just the two of us here. I…” He looked away, through the room. Her phone was charged on her bed, it blinked periodically to remove the cord. “We have to stick together. If we want to get home we have to stick together. No one is coming for us.”

“You don´t know that.”

He smiled, but it wasn´t very convincing. So he had realized it as well. That they were on their own. Three weeks ago she had thought her world had broken down when Pan had just told her that it had never been that serious for her. And just thinking about it made her chest feel so tight as if her heart couldn´t fit into it anymore. But it wasn´t because of the breakup anymore. It was because the more time went by, the more convinced she became that she would never make it back home. And then every little thing that she had taken for granted came into her mind and made it almost unbearable to stay in the fucking room anymore. And if Goten felt the same… he had always been a little less loud than her and her brother. She shouldn´t have dismissed it. Without thinking, she made a step forward and hugged him so tight as if she wanted to press all the shit that had happened away. After a few seconds, he reluctantly hugged her back.

“ _Bura and Gohtin, report to Commander Yasai; Conference Room Resir, Deck 4.”_

Bra opened her eyes. She knew what Yasai wanted. And she would give it to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it will be mentioned a lot here´s the only Japanese phrases I will use in this story:
> 
> Vegeta-sei – planet Vegeta
> 
> Vegeta-go – language of Vegeta-sei
> 
> Vegeta-miyako – capital city of Vegeta-sei
> 
> Everything is named Vegeta… and it sounds nicer than ‘they are speaking Vegetarian!’ Heh. Alright, thanks for reading and see you next time!


	8. Chapter 8

They walked silently to the elevator. Goten looked tense, but that was unsurprising.

“Goten… I know why she wants to see us.”

He looked down on her, surprised. “You do? How?”

Well, she wasn´t one hundred percent sure, but ninety-nine was still pretty good. “I noticed last time I talked to her. She already had the manual for the ship ready that I took to fly down to the planet. And she commented on my language skills.”

Goten was quiet until they exited the elevator. “I don´t understand, what does that tell you?”

Bra grinned slyly. “We do rely on her somewhat, but so does she. She must be our age and is already a commander of this ship.”

“You don´t know if that´s even an accomplishment.” Bra looked up. Goten didn´t look all that convinced of his statement.

“Just imagine, if someone would´ve told you that they came from a different dimension when you were still back home, would you have believed them?”

He paused for a moment. “…no.”

“See, she´s got a lot to lose if she brings us to her home. I don´t know what exactly she has planned but she´s definitely plotting how to use us. We should take advantage of that. Make us irreplaceable.”

“Aren´t we already? I´m the only known Super Saiyan.” He huffed, almost a laugh.

“What did you tell her?”

“About Super Saiyans? Only that she has to train and that she needs strong emotions. I´m actually not quite sure how to teach her, it was easy for me but dad and Vegeta never said much about it and Gohan was pretty closed off as well, so…”

Oh, that was good. That was perfect. “You remember how quickly she turned on us? We need to stay valuable if we want to get out of this. Don´t say anything of your doubts, okay? Let me talk.”

Goten eyed her extensively. They were almost there. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. And pretend as if you understand everything, even if you don´t.”

He pressed his lips together and braced himself for when the door opened. No one was there yet. It gave her a few more seconds to prepare herself. Taking a deep breath, she sat down.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Yasai came in, she looked… troubled. Not the composed smugness of all the other meetings. Bra felt her heartbeat pick up with her anxiety that she had misjudged the situation completely. Goten would protect her but he wasn´t used to using violence. If it came to that it wouldn´t end well. Bra swallowed dryly and waited until Yasai and Nasu were done arranging their stuff.

“Had a good trip? Got some shopping done?” Yasai smiled and watched Bra´s new outfit at length. She had put on a jacket that was a little less bright than the rest she had bought. It was nonetheless quite different from the uniforms.

“I did. Thanks for the money.”

Yasai huffed and started searching for something on her tablet. “We´ll be on Vegeta-sei in about three days. We´ll take my private shuttle, so please pack your belongings and come to dock G-34 in two hours.”

So it was finally time… and she had been right. Yasai was nervous. Bra looked at Goten shortly, but he seemed to have trouble following the conversation. It was okay. She would fill him in later.

“What is this ship doing, exactly? No one wants to talk to us and we were offered no information by you two.”

Nasu stared at her angrily and Bra was pretty sure if they had been alone she would´ve gotten a not very friendly lecture of minding her own business. But she wasn´t. Yasai was leaning back in her chair, watching Bra for a while.

“What do you think?”

“I don´t know. That´s why I ask. It´s some military ship, your base, I guess? There´s too little people coming and going to be in active warfare.”

Yasai smiled at her and was visibly more at ease. “Indeed. My ship is patrolling its designated area and I use it as a base for my regular visits.” She cocked her head. “What did you do on your home planet?”

“I studied economic science.”

“And you?”

Goten hesitated a second. “Writer.” So he understood the question. Goten had a harder time than her learning both languages, but considering that they only started about two weeks ago it was probably still very good. Either way it was better Yasai expected them both to grasp it quickly.

“For what?” Yasai frowned, obviously puzzled.

“Stories. Don´t people read on Vegeta-sei?”

“It´s not very important. Either way, I have scheduled a visit with the king when we arrive. I will propose that Gohtin will train a few selected fighters to achieve Super Saiyan status. Since it works with training.”

“Yes.” Goten looked at Bra and shuffled a bit on his chair.

“Bura is smart but not strong, so I also propose you continue your studies in the royal academy in Vegeta-miyako and we simultaneously test how quickly you can raise your power level. Then we have a reference.”

“Why should I? I´m not interested in that!” Getting beaten up to prove some bullshit science was definitely not what she had signed up for. If she had to keep up some farce it was enough for her to study whatever at a university on another planet. That would at least be interesting, but fighting…

“I take a risk taking both of you to Vegeta-sei. If I cannot offer any valid reasons either one of you or both will be sent to the nearest station, into slavery or killed. It would be a waste and I try to avoid it.”

“Is there no one on Vegeta-sei who could volunteer for the testing?”

“Are you deranged? We cannot start training people publicly and we can´t start looking for someone who wants to do something that ridiculous voluntarily!” Bra realized that Nasu had actually spoken for the first time since she met him. And he was a giant asshole.

“I…” Goten held up his hand, trying hard to figure out how to say what he wants to say. “I am stronger than everyone on your planet.”

“Do you want to fight everyone? Do you want to kill us all? Is it really worth it? You can´t go back to your planet and that way you can help your people. Bura is royal family. She wants to help her people. She wants you to help us kill Lord Freeza.”

Bra exhaled loudly. She hadn´t even realized she had held her breath. So she had figured it out. At least Bra knew now that they wanted Freeza dead. She wasn´t all that sure about it.

“You…”

“Goten. She is right. We…” Bra looked at Yasai again. All the nervousness was gone from her face. “We have no alternative right now. Except that we have knowledge of the future that you don´t have. I want to be included in all decisions you make and we will tell you what we know.”

Nasu threw his notebook on the table, huffing loudly. “You don´t even know if this is your past. Why should we listen to your crap?”

“Because if you don´t, Goten will beat you two shitheads up and we will take a ship and fly away from here. I know how to do that now. Thank you, Commander.” Bra grinned widely. She knew how to threaten people as well. It wasn´t all that hard.

Yasai didn´t react for quite a while. Bra only noticed that the tip of Yasai´s tail was wiggling. Not so composed after all.  “Alright. When we arrive, I want Gohtin to come with me and four other people I have already selected to one of our bases to train. I need permission from the king. I can´t show him Gohtin´s strength on Vegeta-sei. For the trust I need you to stay there and prove that it is possible. You are smart and can be a good asset. The training has to be quick and I need you to show your best effort.”

“And for what?”

“To defeat Lord Freeza and free the galaxy of his planet trade organization.” She paused a moment. “To make sure our people are save. Vegeta-sei was destroyed in your future. Who else did it?”

Who else indeed. “That´s just your plan and doesn´t deserve any information from my side. I don´t want to fight. I don´t want to train and I don´t want to get beaten up just so you can get your career going!”

“Then you can´t come along and I have to try doing it only with Gohtin. You are not crucial to it. Nasu.” She gestured him to get up. Bra immediately shot up from her chair. She knew what games they were playing.

“Wait. I´m not opposed to helping. I simply don´t want to fight. Your father will trust you with something that important, right?  You don´t need me.”

Yasai sat back down, her tail calm again. “Give me information I can use. Show me how valuable you are.”

“Freeza is much stronger than you know. He can transform and increases his strength. He can survive even if he is cut to pieces. If you want to kill him you have to be very… thorough.” Bra waited for a reply. She wasn´t entirely sure about it, it all had happened so long ago and her dad never talked about it. But as long as she was convincing…

Yasai looked at Nasu who rolled his eyes. “Get your stuff and go to dock G-34. Both of you.”

When they had finally left, Bra fell back in the chair and took some deep breaths.

“Bra, we don´t really know a lot we can tell them.”

“So you understood everything? That´s good.” She smiled at him, but he wasn´t swayed. Always playing it so safe… “Goten, don´t worry so much. They lie to us, why should we be honest? It´s no help to us if we do what they say. They don´t have our best interest in mind.”

“We shouldn´t let them split us up. I can´t protect you when I´m in another solar system!”

“Come on now, I can take care of myself. See, I´m gonna learn some alien science, you´re gonna show them how to kill Freeza and we´ll be gone in no time. It´s already a month, Goten! We really need to get back somehow!”

He shook his head, worry almost oozing out of him. “This is not good, Bra. You don´t know those people.”

“And that´s why I bought all that history stuff. We´ve got three days time, let´s pack and start reading, okay. It will be fine.”

What a twisted world. Now she had to comfort him. And there was really no need for it. It was all going exactly as she had anticipated.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The shuttle journey had been exhausting. Goten had been more than happy to get out of the damn uniform, but besides that they were basically forced into an even tinier room and told not to run around too much. And for once Bra decided it would be smart to do what she was told.

“Vegeta-sei was called Salad before the Saiyans conquered it.”

Goten looked up from his tablet. He held it relatively close… “What happened to their own planet?”

“Do you need glasses?”

Rubbing his eyes, Goten sighed. “Kinda didn´t think to bring them when I was just out looking for a fuck.” He stopped and grinned at Bra. “Don´t worry, I see well enough. So, what´s with Vegeta-sei one?”

“Okay, just… maybe you can get some on the planet. Just saying!” She laughed when he threw his pillow at her. “You´ll look like your brother with that ugly kaftan and glasses!” She laughed even louder when he got up to retrieve his pillow and hit her again. “God, stop, I´m sorry! You´re nothing alike!”

“You´re just like Trunks, seriously!”

Bra stopped, blinking a few times. That´s something she hadn´t heard often but it was… nice. She handed Goten his pillow back and cleared her throat. “Planet Vegeta the first had been devastated by climate change, the second as well probably... Since the Saiyans obviously don´t know how to ask nicely they just travelled to the next best planet and killed everyone on it. There´s even some fun mythology that doesn´t make much sense anymore on Vegeta the third.”

“They didn´t change it?”

“Maybe it´s not that important anymore… This is really not very helpful. There is nothing about the society except that _everyone´s an asshole._ Have you found out something better?”

“City states, kept it from their old planet I guess. Ruled under on king, but that is just on paper in this universe I guess.”

Bra put her index finger on her lower lip in contemplation. “Do they even have paper?”

“Nasu does!” He laughed loud enough about his own joke that he almost fell off the bed.

“God, it wasn´t that funny. Oh, the weather on Vegeta-miyako, the capital of that damn planet… cold, snowy, frost at night. Great. I hoped it would be tropical…”

Goten slowly composed himself and wiped away a tear. “The planet has some weird weather anyway, it´s very dry and hot around the equator and very cold in the pole regions. There´s not so much water as, well, home, which makes the climate more extreme. We should probably get ready for some really cold weather. Didn´t you buy any winter clothes?”

“Nooo, it was warm there! Lucky bastards, we should´ve bailed on Dunja…”

“I think King Vegeta is your grandpa. Look at that!”

Well. He did indeed look a lot like her dad. But that beard… “Look at that ugly thing on his face, as if he grew his pubic hair on the wrong spot!”

Goten started laughing again. She wondered if he was nervous or if he was just relaxed the first time in weeks. Either way she didn’t feel it in her to be annoyed. It was… nice.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arriving on Vegeta-sei was a tedious business. Vegeta-sei had 23 moons, all of them had some kind of security system on it which was making sure that no unauthorized ships made it into orbit. Which also meant that Bra and Goten were sitting around in the command center until Yasai had finally cleared them through all safety precautions. They couldn´t even see anything, since the command center was at the middle of the ship… she would´ve liked to see the twin suns and the giant planet with the tiny oceans. Well, another time. When they finally landed Yasai and Nasu departed with them. Bra didn´t know and didn´t care if the rest of the crew was staying on the ship, especially after she realized that they couldn´t be at the palace. In fact, the ship was in some building that was probably a parking deck with tons of other ships on multiple levels. It seemed hard to navigate… and it was boring as hell. Everything was grey and it didn´t look all that different from Earth.

They followed Yasai to an elevator that ended up in a subway. It did look a bit different, the subway was very rectangular, but that was it. And they saw the first natives… who gave them short glances before they minded their own business. Nothing different on that front.

“Finally some people who don´t wear uniforms…” He grinned at the woman who was standing not far from them and waiting for her train. She had some flowing dress in multiple layers and a coat over it. It was very bright green, with yellow boots that looked like they were made to waddle through puddles.

“Yeah, but look at that hair.” She had three huge buns, all on top of her head. Maybe it should represent the shitty weather. “Looks like we´re not quite that weirdly dressed.”

The train ride was short, just a few stations. When they made it to the surface though, Bra was hit hard by a strong, icy wind. She felt as if she would freeze immediately while little ice particles were thrown against her face. “Fuck! This is awful!” She was glad she had put her scarf over her head again, at least a little protection. Goten put an arm around her, which didn´t help at all but she appreciated it nonetheless. She didn´t pay her surroundings much attention, only glad when it wasn´t far to the next building they entered. And those assholes weren´t even wearing a coat…

“This is even worse than I had expected…” Bra nodded, at least she believed she did. She was shivering too bad while she tried to get the ice from her jacket.

“Come on, you can stay downstairs…” Nasu waved at them while Yasai walked down the hallway.

“And where is she going?”

“Does it matter? Come ON I don´t have all day.” Goten shrugged and followed. Well. The house was relatively sparse, no pictures on the walls, no carpet, just a dark green tile floor. The hallway led to several rooms with black, shiny doors. Bra wondered if it was Yasai´s house or some office building.

“Here´s the bathroom, bedroom is over there, if you need something go through this door and then the next. There´s food. Don´t go upstairs and don´t leave. Understood?”

Bra forced a smile on her face and Nasu grimaced right back. She waited until he was out of sight before she raised an eyebrow at Goten. “It´s been a while since I got house arrest.”

“I thought the same… It´s her home, isn´t it? Let´s check out the rooms. Hopefully bigger than on that damn ship.”

It were in fact two small bedrooms. She couldn´t see much through the huge window on one side since the snowstorm was too strong, but it looked as if there were more medium high buildings on the other side. They were very straight and rectangular as well. It looked kind of weird… the bedroom itself was just as boring. The bed was bigger than on the ship but still relatively small with a red cover. No pictures, no decoration at all. It had a black closet with two doors, a carpet next to the bed which was a shade lighter than the floor and a desk, also black.

“Not very cozy…”

“Guest room? If she´s never here she has no need to decorate.”

“OR she hates guests and wants to make them depressed!”

Goten threw his bag on the floor and sat down on the bed. “OR it´s actually Nasu´s home!”

“Oh my god, that would explain so much. Let´s check out the bathroom, come on!”

Green tiles everywhere. Though the tub was big enough for two people, it had a separate shower with a gigantic shower head and two sinks. Bra knew what she was going to do once they got settled… The room that led to what Bra presumed would be the kitchen seemed to be a living room of some sorts. It had a monitor in the wall that could be a TV but it could also be anything else. The couch was a giveaway though. Not even on the damn home planet of those idiots it could be _that_ different.

“Oh look at that, there´s a plant! And it´s… yellow. Do you think it´s dying?”

Goten got closer and touched one of the leaves curiously. “I don´t know. It´s not as if I could´ve checked out the local flora when we were outside.”

“Asshole.” She punched him lightly and walked over the plush carpet to the next door. Didn´t look much like a kitchen to her, more like a storage room. But it had a fridge and after she went through the mostly empty cabinets she found one door that opened into a machine. A microwave. It had to be. They had to heat their food somehow. Giving it a skeptical look she turned around to Goten.

“Okay, alien world is just weird and not all that alien. I really need to get into that tub though and I said it first!”

Goten laughed, stepping aside to let her through. “Honestly, it´s big enough for both of us.” When Bra didn´t stop staring at him with wide open eyes he chuckled and waved his hand. “I don´t want to get into your pants, Bra. I figured you wouldn´t mind since we´re almost related and you´re so gay for my niece.”

“I… I kinda do mind.” She hesitated for a second before she turned around again. “But I won´t take long. It´s not really warm in here as well, have you seen any radiators or something?”

“I´ll inspect the matter while you´re in the bath!” He saluted and she punched him again. No matter how bland the apartment was she felt better than she had in a long long time. Hesitating, she shuffled forwards and back. “Goten… I´m glad I´m not alone.”

He huffed, the tiny smile barely visible through his beard. “Me too.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Are you sleeping?“

Goten opened one eye, but it was dark in the hallway. “No. Is everything ok?” He heard Bra shuffling closer, bumping against his bed, feeling for where he was lying. “Move. I don´t want to get into your pants, I just seem to have spent too much time cooped up with you.”

The bed was almost too narrow for two people but he got out of the way as good as possible. Bra must´ve been out a while, she was ice cold and he hissed when she accidentally brushed her feet against him. Unfortunately he hadn´t found any controls for the room temperature. Though to be fair it was warmer than on the ship and way warmer than outside.

“Or maybe the storm outside is just too loud.” Goten stopped when he heard a noise from upstairs and Bra snorted.

“Bet that we just stopped here for Yasai´s booty call. Is it Nasu?”

Goten grinned, pushing against Bra until she lifted her head to make room for his arm. “No, someone else. Someone stronger. She could´ve fucked Nasu all the time, right?”

“I guess.” She was quiet for a while. The storm was making the blinds rattle, just enough to distract him. “There is another bedroom here, and something that looks like an office. And a cellar.”

“You went down there?”

“Yeah. It´s just for storage, there were some clothes and other junk. Not interesting.” She was so warm… it was comforting.

“Wonder if we´re gonna see the castle tomorrow. Looked impressive in the pictures.”

“Mhm.” A few seconds later, Bra´s breathing had evened out. He fell asleep while listening to it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Ah! Be careful!” The sharp pain shot from her spine right into her tail. “The cupboard…” He was moving away, a few steps to the side to slam her against the wall. She was so close… it had been important for them to meet, but it had also been important for her to get it all out of her system. It had been long enough. He kissed her again, rough and hard and pounded into her as if he was afraid she would vanish. It was just right. Just perfect. Just… she felt the waves of her orgasm wash over her, trying to keep onto the sensation. When he let her down, she just stumbled over to the bed, catching her breath while her overheated body enjoyed the cool sheets.

“When was your last fuck, Yasai?” He chuckled, still out of breath, just like her. That was good.

“I don´t like to mingle with my subordinates, Nappa. And that´s not why I wanted to see you. Well, not… exclusively.”

“I´ll see what I can do. Shouldn´t be a problem in the next few days. Not sure if I can help you with the convincing though.”

Yasai turned her head, barely seeing anything in the dim light. “I´ll manage. Are you… convinced?”

He tried to grin, reluctantly. “It´s all a bit fantastic. But you saw that mixed transforming. If they are really from the future…”

She slapped him lightly on his shoulder. It was getting cold, she should put something on. “The DNA is a match. I´ll have to wait for the results but if the Prince is her father… you should know. Is he ready to make some babies?”

“Not quite that premature… it doesn´t matter. The King will decide. But…” He leaned over, his huge frame blocking out all the light. She felt his tail slowly caressing her thigh, making her shiver. “I´ll support you anyway.”

“Good.” She wasn’t often on planet and she needed him if she wanted it all to work out. He was her only ally in the palace. “How is it, old man? Ready for another round?”

“Haven´t had a decent workout in weeks.”

Grinning, she lifted her head up enough to feel the scruff of his beard and whispered: “Then fuck me like you mean it.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Goten woke up the next morning, he was sure his arm was gone. He didn´t have any feeling in it. At least it had given its last by serving as a good pillow, since Bra was snoring peacefully on it. He carefully tried to get up without waking her and almost succeeded until she turned around, her eyes small and hair sticking everywhere.

“Wha… is it morning?”

“Can you get off my arm? I really need to go to the bathroom.”

She reluctantly lifted her head and he felt the blood flow back into it, prickling horribly.

“Don´t use that green stuff in the shower, it smells like garbage.” Bra turned around again and pulled the sheets over her head. The blinds had opened on their own, but it was still storming outside hard enough to not let much light through. He hated the planet already.

Just when he got out of the bathroom, showered and a bit more awake he heard someone in the hallway. Bra came outside, still a mess but she didn´t seem to care.

“Who´s there?”

“Yasai probably. We should ask her for the schedule.”

Speaking of the devil she came around the corner and for the first time not wearing her uniform. Instead she was wearing a tight, red pullover and dark red pants with rubber boots, a coat under her arm.

“Gohtin, you are already up.” She gave Bra only a short glance. “You can stay here for now, I´ll let you know when I get an appointment in the palace. Don´t leave the house.”

“Are those the mixed?” A tall man came around the corner, with a uniform that looked a lot like what Vegeta had been wearing all the time. He got a few steps closer, curiously eyeing them. “You don´t even look like a Saiyan…” He lifted his hand to touch Bra´s hair but she angrily swatted it away. Goten grabbed her arm, ready to defend her if necessary. But the man just laughed and looked at Yasai.

“Leave her, Nappa. I need to go to Oskarina, is it on your way?” She put on the coat and gestured for Nappa to follow her, not without throwing them a threatening glance.

“I don´t even want to leave the fucking house. Stupid bitch, I´m not some animal to be shown around!”

Goten sighed when Bra stormed off. He had been the one who got presented after all… shrugging, he made his way to the kitchen.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“The one who came to Earth with dad… I think that was mister booty call.” Bra pushed her wet hair from her face while leaning in the kitchen door. He had finally figured out how the microwave oven thing worked and put some of the food inside that had tasted worse while cold.

“Nappa?” He tried to remember, but it didn’t ring a bell. “That means your dad is here.”

“The Prince is still a child. He should be… four years old or something. The… the time measurement is so odd here.” She shrugged and started opening the drawers until she found a cup. “So we can´t rely on his help, eh?”

“No. Guess not. The water tastes weird, by the way.”

Bra grimaced when she took a sip from the tap water. “Ugh, have you seen bottled water anywhere?” When he shook his head she shrugged and drank it nonetheless.

“How did his huge dick fit into that tiny woman? She is half his size!”

“And here I thought we´d have a serious conversation.” Bra laughed and walked over to the couch. “As if you hadn´t wondered about it!”

The morning dragged on endlessly. Goten got back into his bedroom to continue reading on what he could find about Vegeta-sei while Bra was watching what was indeed TV. They ate something that was mildly offending but they didn´t know what it was or how to make it better so they tried not to think about it too much. The afternoon wasn´t any better. The only company they got was a cleaning bot. It didn´t talk and it just beeped when Goten tried to hold it in place. They didn´t see many people on the street, only occasionally a car drove by. They didn´t hover, which was odd. Late afternoon a snow plough came through and cleared the road from the piling icy snow. When it started to get even darker outside he heard a noise and went to investigate. Yasai stormed inside, didn´t pay him any attention and was gone a few minutes later, back in her uniform. Groaning, he shuffled into the living room where Bra was watching something loud and colourful.

“Yasai was here for a second. And I found out that the plants here are really yellow. It´s not dead. The sky is red, something about the light that comes from the twin suns…”

“Yeah the colours are a bit off here. I found out that the trendy Saiyan lady should try to wear her hair _natural and dye it black if that isn´t the case anymore_ and anyway you shouldn´t cut it ever. Rubber boots are THE it-piece this season in Vegeta-machi by the way. Oh, and some city state on the other side of the planet is currently electing a new official because the previous one is involved in some fraud and if you want to know the newest gossip from the palace, rumour has it they want to change the standard uniforms from dark blue to light blue.” She threw the remote away and groaned loudly. “Honestly, this is like visiting your weird relatives in a country where everything is slightly similar but not enough to be interesting?  I just want to DO something!” She groaned again, long and loud. “Even the news are boring! I haven´t found anything that wasn´t local news, and with local I mean the damn planet!”

“ I have watched the snow plough drive by. It was really slow but it cleaned the road perfectly.”

“I want to go jogging. I´m finally on a planet again and I just want to move! Don´t look like that, I´m not gonna go out there to jog!” She threw her head back in frustration. “It wasn´t so bad when we were still on the ship.”

“We didn´t know what we had to expect. Everything was new and different… this here… want to do some language lessons? I´m still behind and I´m sick of reading about trade routes and local animals and shit.”

“Why isn´t there anything about Freeza? All I found was the homepage of his company or whatever and it was not informative at all. Besides the horrifying fact that you could buy planets sorted by natural resources…”

“The same reason we can´t find anything about the government here I guess. We´re not supposed to know.”

Bra was quiet for a while, staring at nothing. “I can´t imagine that someone would blow this place up. That it doesn´t exist anymore at home, and it could´ve been… Earth.” She bit her lip, her eyes moving rapidly. “It´s the right decision to prevent it, Goten. So that they can roll up their hair in stupid balls and wear rubber boots. Not everyone here is a murderer, right?”

He smiled, a tiny smile. “No. And we´ll make sure they don´t get punished for their boring lives.”

Yes. That sounded good.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three days passed. No one bothered them, not Yasai, not one of her lackeys, not a single person. It had stopped snowing only for short periods of time so they still had a natural avoidance of going outside and it was starting to make her nervous. Goten was occupied most of the time with trying to get better at Vegeta-go, but Bra was only in the mood to participate occasionally. She had it down well enough to get around anyway. She had also figured out quickly that although the gravity was bearable, it wasn´t as if she was back to her old capacities. Running up and down the hallway three times was already exhausting, though it at least gave her something to do. Stretching was fine, she was only a bit out of shape…

On day four, someone came over and gave them a pack of clothes. Didn´t talk to them, left immediately after. But it was a sign that maybe they finally would visit the palace. It would hopefully be more interesting than Yasai´s place. Bra had gone exploring with Goten and although the other rooms had been a bit more personal it was still boring as shit. Just with more plants. Considering how they had been picked up Yasai probably didn´t spend much time at her house. Still, not even a book to read.

Goten was the first one to examine the bags, happy to do something else as well. Bra watched from the couch, not really interested in _fashion_ when she was still trying to figure the place out. She knew now that Yasai was the first of eight royal children. Prince Vegeta was the most recent one and probable new king. Obviously women weren´t fit for the job, though Yasai definitely had an aura of competence that made her a good candidate. Bra snorted when she thought about it. Besides that… the planet was the third one the Saiyans had inhabited and there were a few colonies. She hadn´t been able to find out what happened with the previous ones though. Most of the planet´s economy was based around the strong military that was partially national security and partially for hire. There was nothing else the Saiyans seemed to have achieved.

“We got some rubber boots.”

Bra absentmindedly looked at the sea green boots Goten was holding up. She snatched it away from him, feeling the material. It wasn´t rubber, more like some sort of fake leather. Very soft and warm. “So we´re going on a trip presenting the newest fashion.”

Goten laughed and inspected the rest of the bag. If Yasai finally managed to get her plan working it meant that Bra would get into a military university. There had to be people she could talk to. She looked like a foreigner, so they wouldn´t be too weirded out by her questions. And she had a lot of them.

Later in the evening, Yasai stormed into the living room, wearing her red ensemble again.

“We´ll go to the palace tomorrow. Get up in time, I don´t want to be late.”

“How do I set the alarm?” Bra eyed her, annoyed. Somehow getting off the ship made her even less tolerant of getting ordered around.

“Push on the display on the wall. Set it to 7. You´re smart, you´ll figure it out.” She grinned before she left the room. Bra´s gaze wandered to the wall on the other side, where she had already seen something like a clock. The numbers were directly on the wall though, and she had figured it was just fancy wall decoration.

“Well, they got some interesting technology in this shit place after all.”

Goten snorted. “Can we finish this first before you play around with it?”

Rolling her eyes Bra took the tablet again and started questioning Goten some vocabulary. The evening was still young.


	10. Chapter 10

"Why don’t we fly?”

Yasai only shot her an annoyed glance when they walked the steps down to the subway. It was still awfully cold but at least it wasn´t snowing. “Flying is not allowed in the city.”

“Really? Why is that?”

Yasai didn’t answer. Goten just raised his eyebrow and shrugged. She was definitely nervous, it was obvious since she had picked them up earlier in the morning to check if they were dressed properly. Bra had even left her hair out and open so the King could be impressed how outlandish she looked. Yasai also didn´t stop fiddling with her phone or whatever it was. Bra couldn´t quite read it but it had to be her speech. After driving for five minutes she was fed up and poked Yasai.

“Why are you so nervous? It´s your father, he won´t say no. Just be nice.”

Yasai slowly turned her head, staring at Bra for a while. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You´re family, right? If the system was supposed to be fair you wouldn´t have a monarchy.” Bra huffed but it kept stuck in her throat when Yasai grabbed her upper arm hard enough for her to gasp.

“How about you shut your damn mouth and speak only when you are asked to?” She shoved Bra´s arm away and went back to her phone. Bra rubbed her arm. It would leave a bruise.

“She´s right, Bra. Who knows how the people at the palace are if someone like Yasai is a wreck. Maybe… we should let things unfold first.” He had whispered. There was no need for it, no one understood them anyway.

“I just asked her something…” She shrugged. Whatever, she could shut up if need be.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They arrived shortly after. The subway station didn´t lead into the palace as Bra had assumed. Instead, they walked around for longer than she was happy with, considering she wasn´t wearing anything on her head and the wind was bitingly cold. Yasai had told them not to raise their power level if they are cold, which was cute. It´s not as if she could even if she wanted to. The palace itself was definitely more impressing than the photos she had seen. Most of it was rose up high enough to vanish in the morning mist. It was very round, almost like home, without any sharp angles. The main building had some banners on the outside and the royal emblem carved into the doors at the entrance. It was a bit tacky, though she had expected to be some statues here and there as well or columns or even a showy garden. The doors had to be enough it seemed.  

Yasai led them to one of the side entrances and gave them both visitor passes. Some things were the same everywhere in the universe…

“Wear them on your front, the code visible. Otherwise the doors won´t open.”

“Would be a shame if the toilet door won´t budge, eh?”

Goten snorted but he stopped immediately when Yasai gave them a dirty stare. “And shut up, both of you!”

They made a short stop on the way and were left in the hallway. It wasn´t very impressive. Windowless, dark floor, light walls with a circular pattern carved into it. Made it look like the inside of a vase. When Yasai came back she was wearing a deep red cape, the same she had been wearing when they had first met. Her uniform was shining, she was walking straight enough to be mistaken for a broom and things were about to get serious. Bra felt her spirit rise for the first time in weeks. She was excited to meet the King, and maybe even… catch a glimpse of her dad.

The hallway layout changed, it became lighter, windows appeared that gave a view over the city which spread far on the horizon. She could see the lines of the train tracks going over the streets, the mess of different architectural styles, neon coloured advertisements blinking not too far away. It wasn´t as bright as on Dunja, but it made it more… cozy.

The people in the halls stared more than the ones in the ship. Probably wondering what a mixed was doing in their holy palace. Bra had noticed that there was no word for racist in Vegeta-go, but they definitely knew the concept. Yasai finally stopped in front of two huge doors and quickly walked inside. She stopped short, eyeing them both for a few seconds.

“Stay here, I´ll call you when I need you. Don´t run around, don´t annoy her and just… don´t do anything.”

Yasai walked over to _her,_ the receptionist of what was presumably the King´s office. It had a bench so they both walked over to it and sat down. Quietly. The receptionist gave them a once over and went back to her work while Yasai managed to walk even straighter and stiffer into the next room.

“Look at that…” Bra pointed behind them, were a huge relief was carved into the stone wall. The walls were very high and she couldn´t quite make out what it depicted from where she sat. “So they do have some arts here.”

Goten tried to hold her back when she got up to look at it but resigned and got up as well. They were quiet, no one could complain. The relief showed a series of men, all in similar but slightly different uniforms, their feet on the remains of other species.

“It shows the succession to the throne and the enemies we defeated. It´s taught in school, if you went to one.”

“We did.” Goten turned his head and walked a bit closer to the desk. “Your planet is not the only one that is any good, you know?”

“If you think that why are you here, then?” She grinned, showing a set of teeth with little rhinestones on it.

“What enemies? Did someone attack? Is that why this is the third Vegeta-sei?” Bra wasn´t in the mood for another snarky asshole. This was their heritage. Finally something interesting, something maybe even her dad didn´t know. She could tell him when they got back.

“Of course not. The other two planets were drained of resources and the new ones had to be purged first. You really know nothing, do you?”

“We are not from here. Why should we?” So that was it. She had thought her dad had been forced to work for Freeza, but it seems as if he had just needed to adapt to a new boss. It was disgusting. And they had carved it in stone and taught it at school. Bra was ripped out of her thoughts by a beeping sound and the receptionist waved them to the door. Finally.

“Bra, don´t say anything stupid. We need them to get back home.”

“I won´t, stop fretting.” She took a deep breath and walked inside.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bra almost stopped when she saw him. He looked awfully like her father, so much it sent a little pain right through her chest. She hadn´t realized how much she had missed home until now. A few steps more and they stopped, waiting for something to happen. Yasai´s eyes widened and Bra realized that she had expected them to bow. Like hell she would. The King huffed and got a bit closer, inspecting them. Bra didn´t flinch when he grabbed her chin, but she was ready to punch him when he finally let go.

“Why did my son fuck some trash on an unknown planet?”

He stared at her. Bra looked at Goten, uncertain if it was really a question, but Goten looked exactly as lost. “Because he liked my mother. I guess.”

“That´s no reason to impregnate someone.”

“It is where I come from!” She had already enough of it. Goten didn´t hold her back this time when she got closer. The King wasn´t that much taller than her. “I´m not here to get insulted!”

“They are here because in their time our planet got destroyed. And we were still on it, as I said before. It doesn´t matter what could have happened in the future, now that we know we can avoid bastards.”

Yasai had stepped forward. She was still tense but looked as if she had the situation under control. Bra wasn´t that sure about it.

“I can teach your people how to become Super Saiyans. With that transformation you are stronger than Freeza and the threat is gone.”

The King looked up to Goten, frowning. “And how do you know that it works for real Saiyans?”

 _Real Saiyans…_ She was about to punch him in the dick. “Because my father was one and Vegeta became one as well. Prince Vegeta, I mean.”

“My _dad.”_ Yasai gestured her to shut up.

“We can´t try here, obviously. Yasai, you can take that one and pick four more. I want their files at four. You got one month. What about that one?”

“That one…!”

“Bra, leave it.” Goten had put his hand on her shoulder and held her back.

“She is very intelligent, so my proposal stands.”

“Hm. Give me the files first, then I decide. You can go.”

“My Lord.” Yasai bowed deep down before she grabbed Bra by the arm and forcefully pushed her outside. “Ninjin, we´re done.” The receptionist just lifted her head shortly in acknowledgement and Yasai didn´t even stop walking. When they were back in the hallway Bra tried to get her arm back but Yasai didn´t even slow down.

“Let me go!”

“Shut your damn mouth. You almost ruined everything you damn brat!” She shook her for emphasis. “And you are not even important to any of this! I don´t care if you like it or not, you understand?” She shook Bra again. Goten didn´t do anything. There were a lot of people in the hallway.

“And where are you dragging me, Princess?”

“Not your business.”

She rolled her eyes and followed her unwillingly. She didn´t have another choice anyway.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“How did it go?”

They had barely entered the office when Yasai pushed Bra away who gladly rubbed her arm. The other one.

“Fine, I guess. Wants the files of the four people I chose to come with me. I´ve got to go over them once more, but I guess we´re good to go.”

Nappa nodded, slowly. “And what about her?”

Yasai stared daggers at Bra´s head before she patted against Nappa´s arm and gestured him to follow into the other room. Maybe to discuss how they should get rid of Bra´s dead body.

“You could´ve helped me.”

“You´re not hurt, Bra. It´s your safety that´s in danger, not mine. You know they want to split us up. Couldn´t you have just played along?”

“Excuse me? Did you hear how that asshole talked to me? Who does he think he is?”

Goten exhaled loudly and turned around where he stopped dead in his track.

“What is it? Goten?”

“Who are you?”

Bra got a bit closer for a better look. Sounded like a child. Like… “Oh my god. Oh my god, Goten.”

“I see it.”

Prince Vegeta crossed his arms in front of his chest. It didn´t look very intimidating with his little, puffy arms. “Where is Nappa?”

“He´s… he´s talking with Yasai in the other room.” Goten grinned so bright he couldn´t shut his mouth anymore. Bra understood him completely. He was so tiny and squishy. She wanted to… hug him.

Little Vegeta looked at the door, contemplating. “Commander Yasai?” He looked back at them. “You didn´t bow. Why?”

Bra started giggling and got on her knees. “Why should I? You´re not my Prince. I´m not from here.”

“You have weird eyes.” He got closer and touched her face, her hair. That was it. She had to hug him.

“Vegeta, get away from her. You, get up.”

Vegeta pouted but shuffled away, his tiny tail curling around his leg. Nappa went over to them and unceremoniously ripped the authorization cards from their chests. “You two stay here. Vegeta, come on.”

“What if I have to pee?”

Yasai shoved her aside, hard enough to slam against the wall. “One more word…”

“It´s over there, in the other room!” Vegeta grinned at her, brightly. He made some indignant noise when Yasai shoved him along with his foot.

“Someone will pick you up later. Don´t do anything stupid.” This time, she at least considered them both.  The door closed and when Bra tested it, it didn´t open.

“You could´ve taken the cards back from him. You are stronger, Goten.”

“And what for? I won´t fight everyone on this planet about who´s gonna have the last word. And you shouldn´t, either.”

 _Shouldn´t…_ what a hard task. She strolled over to the couch that was standing on the other side of the room, grey and angular and not very soft. “That was my dad. He was so cute and tiny.”

“I know. Who knew Vegeta had been like that once in his life. Not grumpy…”

Bra laughed, but it was stuck in her throat. _Why had he fucked some trash on another planet?_ If they saved them all, would her dad end up like them as well?

“I will never be born in this timeline.”

Goten smiled at her, softly. “You don´t know that. He was totally into your eyes. You just need to tell him where to find Bulma and everything else… will fall into place.”

“Maybe.” If her mum became Queen of Vegeta-sei… that would change things around here quickly. “Wanna go through Nappa´s stuff? I´m interested in what they are doing here.”

“It´s probably locked anyway.” Bra stared at him until he rolled his eyes hard enough to hurt. “But we can try, Bra, sure. Where was the toilet again?”

“Over there, other room. Come on, let´s have some fun!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“You know I´m not into beards, but it suits you. You should keep it when we get back, it makes you look like one of those hipster models.”

“Hm.”

“I thought about cutting my hair shorter, it grows so fast anyway. It´s actually quite uncomfortable when I put it in a bun but there´s really no other option for competitions. It hurts when you smack yourself with your ponytail.”

“Hm.”

“Have you tried braiding? It´s so thick, would work fine. And healthy. What do you do with it?”

“Not much. Don´t stop.”

Bra smiled a little bit when she continued running her fingers through his hair. He was lying on her lap, almost dozed off. It had been a few hours already and no one had came for them. She was starting to get really hungry and bored…

“Do you miss writing?”

Goten opened his eyes slightly. She felt him tense. “A bit. What do you miss?”

She hesitated, not wanting him to notice how her fingers started to shake a little bit. “Everything. He looked like dad. Both did.”

“Do you think dad is already on Earth?”

“I don´t know. Maybe. Should we search for him?”

Goten smiled and closed his eyes again. “No. He´s gonna have a good life when Vegeta´s not there to mess it up.”

Bra tugged on his hair hard enough for him to yelp. “Hey buddy, dad had been essential every time the Earth needed saving, alright?”

“Oh, besides that one time he came specifically to do it himself, you mean?”

“Asshole…” She grabbed his ears and started pulling which only made Goten laugh. She couldn´t help it and started as well, hard enough that they could barely breathe, couldn´t stop, couldn´t think. It was… relieving.

“I see you have fun.”

Bra let go of Goten so abruptly that he fell on the floor with a loud noise. She started laughing again, it was impossible not to. “Yeah. You too, Yasai?”

“Tremendously. Gohtin, you´re with me. Bura, Nappa will take care of you later. Come on, now!”

Goten got up, still out of breath and red faced. “What about our stuff? We´ve got some left at your place.”

Yasai considered it for a second and waved it away. “You can pack for Bura, I´ll drop it off. Because I´m so nice.” She smiled and it was the most terrifying smile Bra had ever seen.

“We are all a bit happier with our delusions.”

Yasai snorted and walked to the door, impatiently. Goten didn´t follow immediately. They hadn´t expected to say goodbye so quickly. The King had said one month, but a month here was longer than on Earth and… “Hey. Take care. Don´t do something stupid. Do what Trunks would do.”

Bra punched him in the arm. “Same.” She hugged him shortly. Yasai was already pacing.

It was already dark when Nappa finally came to pick her up. Vegeta wasn´t with him. She wondered why, but didn´t ask. Nappa was an unknown entity and Goten was gone. No matter what, she wasn´t in the mood to test his patience yet.

“If I´m gonna have to stay here I really need to know how to get something to eat. Do you have take-out?”

Nappa didn´t bother to answer it, he just handed her the access card back. They didn´t take the subway, he only walked over to one of the other buildings on the palace grounds. It were apartments after all, and nice ones. Maybe little Vegeta was waiting there…

“You can sleep on the couch tonight. Dinner will come over shortly. What was your name?”

“Bra. Don´t you have a guest room?”

He raised an eyebrow. “No. Listen, a royal bastard is still a bastard. You don´t get to make demands.”

“That title actually didn´t count at all at home. But my mum is the most important person on the planet.” Well. Not entirely, but Nappa didn´t know that.

“Oh, is that so? And I was afraid that I had raised our Prince wrong and he had settled down with some whore on a backwater planet.” He grinned at her threateningly. It made Bra shiver. She had been right to be careful around that one.

“From what I can tell you did a good job.”

He huffed and left for another room. Bra let out a breath she hadn´t even realized she had been holding. This… would be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New names:
> 
> Ninjin – Japanese for carrot
> 
> And the lil vegetable showed up whooo! See you next time!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, at this point I need to clarify one thing: I try to stick to the newest canon with DBS, but I really didn´t like Minus. I personally prefer the Saiyans as a technologically advanced race, which they weren´t like it was shown in Minus. Minus was done to explain why Radditz was with Vegeta in the first place and honestly, I didn´t like that as well. It didn´t make much sense to me. I thought about shoehorning Radditz into this for that reason but I just don´t want to. It wouldn´t fit. Radditz will appear sooner or later, but not as playbuddy for lil Veggie. What I did like was Gine! She´s a great addition. Would´ve loved to see Vegeta´s mum as well though.
> 
> I also don´t know if it is necessary to point this out, but: Thanks to Super the character ages don´t make sense anymore. I´m still confused about the timeline (honestly, if it started 6 months after Buu why is Videl pregnant? Have they forgotten that she was 16???) so I´ll stick to the ages defined in the last chapter of the manga. It doesn´t matter that much, just fyi why Goten is 13 years older than Bra as in comparison to the 6-7 year gap in Super. (I´m not gonna lie, if you make a new series for a franchise as big as DB it shouldn´t have been too hard to keep the timeline a little bit in mind? Either way, I´m gonna use the parts that make sense to me haha)
> 
> Alright, have fun!

He hadn´t locked her up, aware that she had no problem kicking his damn doors down. And she would´ve left immediately, if not for the fact that she wasn´t sure she would be able to get back again. It seemed unwise to lock herself out without knowing what was expecting her in the city. She didn’t even have any money.

The apartment had been a little more interesting than Yasai´s at least. Less plants, but more decoration. He had a huge print of the King on his wall in the living room. Weird, but she didn´t want to judge other people´s decisions for interior design. Maybe it was mandatory. The walls were light yellow, no plants in the living room, one in the bathroom in front of the huge window. No curtains, see through, and a building on the other side. Bra had made sure to stay out of view as good as possible. The kitchen was barely a kitchen, more a place where he had some dishes and a kettle. The previous night someone came over and delivered food. If it was the norm and not the exception he didn´t need more. There was no office, not a lot of personal items, not a lot of civilian clothes. Nothing to read, nothing to listen to, nothing to watch. She wasn´t sure if all those things were just on other devices or if the Saiyans really didn´t like to relax that way.

Someone came over to bring her something to eat, hours later. It was tasty, much more than what Yasai had given them. Some kind of meat, very soft with something she couldn´t quite place, yellow balls, squishy and subtly sweet and some grains. The food was different from home, it filled her right up. Well, if a whole planet full of Saiyans had to eat like she did at home they wouldn´t be on Vegeta-sei number three and there were a few billion Saiyans permanently living on the planet…

Nappa came back later in the evening with more food and… the Prince. When he spotted her he immediately ran over. She noticed that someone had braided his hair flat against his head. It looked adorable.

“You were in the office yesterday. Do you live here now? What´s your name? What do you do, are you organizing things, are you cleaning? Are you a new teacher?”

Bra giggled, gesturing him to sit next to her. “I´m Bra. I don´t live here now, I´m just staying over until I get my own place. Right, Nappa?” Nappa grunted in acknowledgement. That was good. “But I´m not working here. I´m going to study at the university.”

“And you extra came here for that? Couldn´t you stay in your colony?”

Bra grimaced but didn´t correct him. It didn´t matter. “The university here is better.”

“But no one wants mixed here. I know that because…”

“Vegeta. Get your food and stop babbling. And you, too.”

Grumbling, she got up to fetch her plate. “Is anyone allowed to talk or should we stay quiet all the time?”

“If you´ve got nothing to offer you´ve got nothing to say, Bura.” He smiled at her when he handed her the chopsticks.

They ate quietly. It must´ve been a rule since Vegeta didn´t even try to talk and he seemed to be very curious like all small children. The moment they were done he was right at it again, though. “Do you wanna watch something with me tonight? Nappa said he doesn´t have time and you are here anyway, right? Bra?”

“Right.” She looked at Nappa, not sure if he really wanted to leave her with the Prince.

“You can watch one show and then bed.”

Nappa went into his bedroom afterwards, with his tablet. So not leaving the apartment but too busy to play babysitter… that was good.

“Vegeta, I don´t know much about Vegeta-sei. Do you want to tell me about it?”

He looked up from where he was fiddling with the remote control, temporarily lost in thought. “Sure! Can I touch your hair?”

She smiled, softly, and lowered her head for him. He yanked on it painfully one time, but it was okay. Afterwards he could barely stop, about how he was training already and how his teachers were so mean sometimes and how the King was scary but he had to meet him once a week anyway and Nappa didn´t allow him to do anything ever…

“What about your mother? The Queen?”

Vegeta stopped talking for a moment, frowning. “There is no Queen. My mother is…”

“No Queen? But someone…” _Had to birth you._ The concept was obviously foreign enough that Vegeta didn´t immediately know an answer to it.

“My mother is in the troops. I haven´t met her. Her name is Zukka. Do you know your mother?”

Zukka, hm? “Yes, I do. Where I come from, when two people like each other they stay together and have children.” It was very simplistic, but it wasn´t the time to teach that to a four year old. “It´s not like that for the royal family?”

“No…” Vegeta looked even deeper in thought. She hoped he won´t get a headache. “No. That sounds weird. Everyone is in the care house, the one were the babies are. I went to the royal school afterwards, with some others. The rest went to a city school. Why should my mother be here? She´s not working in the palace.”

“But…” Bra let it be. If she confused him too much he would start questioning everything and that would be her fault, then. He got a hint, that had to be enough. And Bra was a bit wiser. “Doesn´t matter. Didn’t we want to watch something?”

Vegeta´s eyes widened dramatically when he remembered. “It has already started! We need to…”

It was a soap opera about people with green skin and a head full of horns, barely humanoid. Bra couldn´t follow any of it, she didn´t know the plot and the accent was hard to understand, but Vegeta had fun. He wasn´t bothered when she pulled him lightly to her side to lean against her. Goten was gone. She was really alone now. But… at least little Vegeta was with her. If she didn´t think too much about it, he could just as well be one of her nieces.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vegeta immediately wandered off to get ready for bed when the show was over. It was weird, seeing him so obedient. She definitely hadn´t been like that when she was little… Sighing, she got up to go to the bathroom. Yasai had mentioned she would drop Bra´s stuff off, but so far she hadn´t been able to change her clothes for the last two days. Even slept in it. And she really wanted to smoke and listen to some music. When she came back, Nappa was sitting on the couch, idly looking out the window. There was nothing to see. It was dark and snowing again.

“Is something wrong? Lil Vegeta did go to bed as ordered.” She raised an eyebrow, but Nappa didn´t react. He just gestured her to sit down. Warily, she followed suit, though she kept a safe distance to him. Who knew what this was all about.

“Your DNA test showed that you are indeed the daughter of Prince Vegeta. So your story is true.”

She frowned, not saying anything. She hadn´t had any doubts about that.

“How did Vegeta survive?”

So that was it. But if she told him… It was the only thing she had to bargain.

“Did I survive?”

She bit her lip. It made sense that he wanted to know. “Yes. You did. But you died soon after you… found our home planet.”

“I see. And Yasai?”

“Hadn´t heard of her. There was no one else.”

“I wonder how he managed that…”

Bra wasn´t sure who he was talking about and she definitely didn´t feel like comforting him. He had come to Earth to kill them after all. But he had also made sure that her dad had survived until then. Probably. Maybe. She wasn´t sure.

“Dad became a Super Saiyan, you know. He became more powerful than you could even imagine.”

Nappa huffed, a weird sound coming from someone that threatening. “But not fast enough.”

“He was still a child!” Was that how those people were thinking? Put their whole faith in a four year old? “Why not blame the King? It´s his duty to protect you all, or not?”

“I`m not blaming anyone. I wanted to understand how the Prince I had raised ended up forgetting where he came from.”

Bra´s eyes became stone cold. She had enough of it! “He never had. He´s well aware of his _duty_ to avenge his people, so much so that I thought it would be good to help you. It wasn´t because I care so much about it.”

The smile didn´t reach his eyes. “You´re mixed, but you´re still half Saiyan. Have a little pride in that. If you would´ve been born a proper Saiyan…” He raised his eyebrows. “You and Yasai are very alike. Had I been around you would´ve turned out just as well as she did.”

He got up and walked back to his room while Bra was left sitting with a lump in her throat. _He_ had made her like that. He had made her father like that. She had been right to be wary.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next day she was grossed out enough to finally wash everything she was wearing. It was annoying to do it by hand, but there wasn´t anything looking like a washing machine. They obviously only used their homes to sleep in them… Bra took liberty in taking one of Nappa´s sweaters to wear until her clothes were dry. It wasn´t her fault everyone was bad at keeping their word. At least it was big and soft and warm and definitely more comfortable than anything she had worn in the last weeks.

While the day passed so very slowly she wondered if they tried to get her spirits down. She almost went crazy with boredom. TV was not very entertaining since she didn´t have the necessary cultural background for most of it, stretching only occupied her for an hour, situps and pushups tired her out too quickly to get the time by and lying around staring out the window only made her think about stuff she tried to ignore. Maybe little Vegeta would come back in the evening. It had been fun with him. Goten had been right. They shouldn´t have let them separate them.

When she finally heard the door hours later she didn´t stir. Nappa would eventually make noise when the food was ready and she hadn´t heard Vegeta with him. She closed her eyes again when something hit her legs and she almost fell of the couch, screaming. It was a bag, its contents spilled over her. She saw her purse in the mess.

“Your things.” Nappa eyed her, her naked legs poking out from his shirt. “So you don´t have to wear my stuff.” Bra immediately pulled the shirt down. Her underwear was still drying. Nappa grinned knowingly and dangled another bag in front of her. “Get up, I´ve got your dinner.”

 “ _Thanks._ Isn´t Vegeta with you?”

“No.” When she sat down, Nappa put a small container in front of her. “I didn´t have the time to drop him off at his school yesterday. I try to avoid that.”

“But aren´t you raising the little princes and princesses?” She lifted the lid a bit. It looked like cake.

“I´m supervising. That´s a specialty of Vegeta-miyako.”

“A what?” The cake? Why was he giving her cake? Was he trying to be nice all of a sudden? It was weirding her out more than the constant animosity.

“Every city on the planet has their own food they know best how to do. That´s the one from Vegeta-miyako. To make you appreciate your people some more.” He grinned, so damn sure of himself.

“That needs more than some cake, you know.” Though when she tried it, it was one of the best things she had ever eaten. No cake on Earth had ever tasted like that, sweet and creamy, with some crispy bits inside, a flavor she couldn´t quite identify.

“If you get back to your planet, I want you to tell Vegeta about all of it. All of this.”

Bra smiled, a tiny smile that barely lifted the sides of her mouth. So he did care a little. “I´ll tell him that you have damn good cake, Nappa.” That had to be enough. She didn´t owe him anything. “I appreciate it though. That you have faith in us making it back. Guess you believe me now that we don´t know how we got here?”

He didn´t answer and they spent the rest of dinner in silence. When they were done, Bra watched how Nappa put the dishes away. _If_ they made it back… she had so many questions. She had never asked, she knew her dad wasn´t comfortably talking about it anyway and it hadn´t been anything that had interested her. It hadn´t been anything that had affected her at all. And now she could use all that knowledge and there was nothing there. Maybe they didn´t make it back. Maybe they would be stuck on the damn planet and she couldn´t even tell her dad everything she had seen. She wondered if he would like to know some, or if all that had happened while he wasn´t on Earth was awful enough that he didn´t want a reminder. She only had a vague idea what it could´ve been, but if it haunted her dad of all people it must´ve been… awful.

“You two had worked for Freeza. He hadn´t told me… how bad it was. Do you think it was bad?”

Nappa put the last plate away, slowly. When he turned around Bra immediately sat up straighter. It was frightening. “We worked for Freeza?”

She frowned, not sure if she had said something especially upsetting. “Yes. I mean… I´m not sure why, but…”

“If he destroyed our planet, there´s only one reason we would´ve worked for him.” He was right. It made sense. It made… too much sense. “Bura, coming here was the right decision. You like your father… it´s good to spare him from that.”

“And you.”

“Well…” He shrugged, a gesture weirdly out of place.

“Is it really so bad?”

He stared at her, long enough for her to squirm in her seat. “We have no death sentence on Vegeta-sei. If someone messes up they get transferred to our Lord´s troops.”

She pressed her lips together, trying not to blurt out the first thought racing through her head. _Give me my father_. He was too young to take care of himself. They may be able to spare him whatever had happened to her father, but she wasn´t sure if it was better to leave him on Vegeta-sei. But instead… “Yes. I guess it was the right decision. When do I get to start at the university?”

“Soon.” He hesitated for a moment and Bra already felt anxious about what was coming now. “Do you want to fuck?”

“What? No? Why?” She pulled the shirt down lower. Talk about completely uncalled for!

“Why? Because I asked? What do you do on your planet?” He laughed, but it sounded relaxed. That was good.

“Not just asking. That´s… rude. Aren´t you with Yasai?” The one he had raised. Something was seriously wrong with the Saiyans.

“What does that have to do with anything? She´s not here.”

As if that was enough of an explanation. “I´m… I`m not into dicks.”

He shrugged again and left. Turned around without another word. She was definitely lacking crucial cultural understanding. Later, when she was lying on the couch again, wearing her own underwear but still the sweater and stared out at the snow she couldn´t keep the thoughts from running rampant in her brain anymore. She wondered if Earth had been that confusing to her father as Vegeta-sei was for her. She wondered if Goten was alright. She wondered what had happened, all that time ago. She hoped the month would go over soon. She realized they had to leave the moment Goten was back.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next day she finally got a schedule with her classes, a tablet full of additional information and a tiny flat in another building on the palace grounds. She had asked if she could see her father again, but Nappa had been very certain that neither she or him would have time for that. She was also not allowed to contact Goten on his top secret mission. When she sat down on her bed and the storm banged harder than ever against her window she finally realized it. That she was completely alone.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Commander Mikan, Nashi, Poroto and Cilek. And this is Son Goten. We have one month to achieve the transformation, so I expect every one of you to give all you got and more if necessary. Understood?”

All four of them immediately screamed in acknowledgement while Goten stood next to Yasai, trying not to show how uncomfortable he was. He knew it made sense to train more than one person how to become a Super Saiyan, but seeing the four that had been chosen made him worry even more. It was one woman, taller than him, her skin almost as black as her dreadlocks. Three men, one with a sharp face, one smaller one with brown skin and a buzzcut and one with curls and thick eyebrows. All of them had the same rank as Yasai and if all of them had her personality…

He didn´t know what to do. There hadn´t been a good time to mention it, but he had absolutely no idea how he should teach them. He had become a Super Saiyan when he had thrown a temper tantrum as a child. That wouldn´t work with those people. And although he was sure they wouldn’t be able to hurt him if he failed as an instructor he was still well aware that if it didn´t work out he had to be the one to kill Freeza. Maybe that was all the motivation he needed. Taking a deep breath he tried to calm himself down. It was still a few days until they would reach their destination. He should be able to think of something they could do.

“We will go to Vegeta-sei one for our training. It is remote, barren and not under surveillance.” Yasai beamed while everyone started cheering immediately. Of course they were excited about it. Achieving the legendary transformation on their home planet. It was almost like a religious ritual.

He felt cold sweat run down his spine. He shouldn´t try sticking to his own advice. _Do what Trunks would do._ This time, he definitely should do what Vegeta would do.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names:
> 
> Zukka – from German ‘Zucker’ meaning Sugar  
> Mikan – Japanese for tangerine  
> Nashi – Japanese for pear  
> Poroto – Spanish for bean  
> Cilek – Turkish for strawberry


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this just took me forever haha. Thanks everyone for your patience!

He couldn´t wait any longer. There was no reason for it and if he did anyway it would make everything that much more difficult. He hated himself that his hand was shaking slightly nonetheless. There was no need to be afraid. He was helping them, they were relying on _him._ Not the other way around. He finally pressed the button and entered.

“Yasai, do you have a moment?”

Yasai looked up from her tablet, frowning slightly. But she nodded, so he entered.

“We should start right away. We only have a month.”

Yasai shrugged and turned off the tablet. “It´s a bit tricky on a ship this size. I doubt even a super saiyan can survive in the vacuum.” She grinned and probably thought she was so funny. Goten finally sat down. It could take a while and it made him less nervous.

“There´s a lot we can do right away. You all should learn how to control your power levels, I don´t think this will work otherwise. You need to get stronger. When my dad trained for it, he used higher gravity to enhance his training. And aren´t you getting stronger when you injure yourself?”

“We won´t do that.”

“What? You can control the gravity on the ship, can´t you turn it up? A month is really not long…”

Yasai huffed. “No injuries. It´s too dangerous and there´s no sense in dying without accomplishing anything.” She was quiet for a while, looking at him questioningly. “How did you do it? Did you use gravity?”

“Well, no. But it was different for me. I`m not a…” Being mixed had its advantages. Unfortunately that didn´t help him right now. Yasai leaned forward and he felt a slow rise in her ki. It was the first time any saiyan he had met had done it. He couldn´t suppress he shiver that was running down his spine.

“Gohtin, you better listen well. I put everything on line for this to work. I saw you, I know it´s possible, and I believed you when you said you are able to teach it. The real saiyans managed to become super saiyans, yes?”

“Yes, but it took them some time and…”

“It doesn´t matter. If I can provide some progress to the King we can keep training until we all achieve it. If your way doesn´t work for us we will do it like your father did. But I need it to work!”

Her ki was still rising. It was slightly terrifying but it was also… promising. “Then we should start right away.” He hesitated for a moment, halfway out of his chair. “I don´t want to kill Freeza. I will make sure that you´ll ascend.”

Yasai laughed while she turned on her tablet again. “Don´t worry, Gohtin. I won´t let you.” She started typing. Goten wasn´t sure if he should stay or not. They really should… “Go to the storage. It´s spacious.”

This was it, then. He knew some basic training exercises. He barely knew how he had been taught to sense and control ki. And he absolutely had no idea how to get a rise out of those stoic bastards that they´d be able to ascend. Sighing, he wished the month was already over.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He had to wait a while until all of them trudged in. Nashi was the first one, the tall one with the sharp face. He basically sneered at Goten and sat down on one of the crates to finish his snack. Goten didn´t bother with small talk. All of them had made it perfectly clear what their opinion of him was, ignoring him in the small break room and changing the topics of their conversations when he came close. He wondered if they even believed Yasai or if they had only tagged along since they hoped it would help them with their CVs. Either way it made Goten even more motivated to get it over with quickly. Shortly after, Poroto came in with Mikan, the only woman of the group. They all were commanders and as far as Goten had understood that was the highest rank in the saiyan military. Considering how little effort they all put into hiding their racism, Goten didn´t need much imagination to think about the other kinds of discrimination. It would explain Mikan´s attitude. Poroto on the other hand was rather misplaced, shorter and leaner and he had tried talking to Goten on one or two occasions. They continued chatting until Yasai finally marched into the hall, Cilek in tow. His wavy hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he gave the room a critical glare. Goten tried hard not to roll his eyes at the display.

“Tha…”

“What´s this about? Got some motivational speech Gohtin?” Goten eyed Nashi critically. He almost had _thanked_ them for appearing. They should thank him!

“There´s training we can do during our travel. The month already started, so stop bickering. Gohtin.” Yasai raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to take over. Goten noticed the dirty stare from Mikan, but decided to ignore it. He didn´t want anything from their internal squabble.

“You need to control your power levels to become super saiyans. Otherwise you´ll not be able to handle the power. I…”

“Well that´s some weird thing just a few people can do.” Mikan raised her eyebrow. “What´s the point anyway? We have scouters.”

Goten grinned, a tiny grin. And then he transformed. They tried not to look impressed but he could feel the little peak in their kis while the wind whipped around their heads. He quickly powered down again and looked expectantly, waiting for another dumb interruption.

“If you can´t power up and down properly you can´t transform. I know _real_ saiyans who learned how to control their ki no problem, I guess a commander like you will grasp it quickly. Mikan.”

She didn´t respond, but the icy stare was meant to kill. Poroto coughed and looked around the room with a frown. “How ´s it working, then? `s not something anyone cared to figure out.”

“Yeah your damn scouters can´t even properly manage higher levels before they shorten out. Gather around, please.” Goten sat down on the floor, getting comfortable. There was no sense in standing, it would be a long day anyway. All of them wanted to become super saiyans in theory, but they definitely weren´t too eager to learn anything from a mixed bastard. Goten couldn´t care less, but unfortunately his own well-being was bound to his capability to motivate them. He almost smiled at Yasai when she sat down first. One less to motivate.

“You all got an energy attack you like best? Something medium strength? Try to create it without releasing it and then try to increase and decrease its power. If you blow it up we all die.” He demonstrated it with a tiny ki ball and let it dissipate after a few seconds. It looked simple but it was actually something he had only managed to do well after most other techniques. Releasing energy was so much easier than holding it.

They all grumbled but they all followed suit anyway. Creating a steady energy ball was the simple step, it must´ve been something they had learned early on to control their power. And they all let it fizzle out without any major combustions after a few seconds. Though nothing had changed in the intensity. It only took three tries until the first one complained. Cilek groaned and leaned back, his tail wagging nervously behind him.

“We just started, don´t expect it to work immediately. When you… attack something massive, you use a different energy than against a weak, single opponent. This is the same. You have to adapt the power of the blast.”

Cilek stared at him for a moment before he created a tiny little ball in his hand. “The energy is created completely differently. If you know anything about proper technique you would know that.”

And here we go again… Goten didn´t even bother not to role his eyes. He wasn´t sure if it was a gesture saiyans used, but they would get the hint. Before he could elaborate further on why they should stop being assholes and listen to him Yasai had already grabbed Cilek´s tail and yanked properly on it. Cilek almost jumped up and let out a very undignified whimper.

“Less talking, more training. Gohtin´s already ascended, he knows better than you.” She eyed Goten curiously. “Cilek´s right though. The analogy isn´t good.”

“Yeah it is. I know that you channel each attack from a different part of your body, _thank you_ , and certain kinds are easier from certain parts. You can still increase every single one of them. And guess what, it takes some training to know which ones are the best to enhance. I already figured that out and I´d love to help if you just try to learn one single thing.” Goten created another energy ball, a tiny one like Cilek had and increased it until it was big enough to blow away a whole island. It shrank again and dissipated. “I wonder if you all gave up that quickly on everything else in your lives. Must´ve been fun, becoming a commander. Not much work. Lots of free…”

Nashi jumped up, his aura flaring around her. “You tailless bastard, it´s enough that you´re allowed to teach us, you…”

“Allowed?” Goten got up as well. Yasai didn´t move, maybe she wanted him to defend himself. Earn some respect. As if he had any use for that. “Listen you dumb asshole, I´m doing this out of the goodness of my heart. You all have power levels so weak, I was already stronger than that before I went to school. See this as a learning opportunity.” He gestured around. “Not only will you become that much stronger, you can also build your character by suppressing your prejudices. If you can´t handle that than piss off.” He smiled sweetly and sat back down. It took some tense seconds and a tiny nod from Yasai for Nashi to do the same.

“Alright, anyone else got something to add?”

“Your father was a proper saiyan. How quickly did he learn it?” Poroto asked. At least a good question.

“Controlling his ki didn´t take him long. You should all manage it until we are on Vegeta-sei. This here is the easy part. If you all decide to argue that much with everything else we´ll never make any progress, you all can fly back home and hand in your reports about how pettiness was more important than saving your goddamn people.”

A tiny ki ball formed next to him, glowing warm in Yasai´s hand. “How does it feel… when it increases?”

Goten didn´t answer for a while. He created another one and tried to figure it out. If he wanted to be fair they weren´t the only ones who weren´t prepared.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three hours later they hadn´t managed much more and Yasai called in a break. Even if the outcome had been meager it was still extremely exhausting. It didn´t help that Yasai had always been good in her ki control and it bugged her immensely that she didn´t grasp it quicker. Quicker than the rest at least. Frowning, she walked over to her quarters. She wanted to get out of her jumpsuit, but it would look bad in front of the others. So far it helped that she was the strongest and that she had been the one to even make it all possible. But she was also very aware that all of them won´t hesitate to take advantage should she fuck it up. At least she was pretty sure Cilek wouldn´t jump at her throat. They had been at school together and even served on the same ship, back when they had started their careers.

Yasai smiled weakly. School… this was just like it all over again. Training, pushing yourself, proving your worth. The only difference was that no one was screaming at or hitting her. But that would soon change as well. She looked around her room and decided it would make more sense to grab a bite to eat. She couldn´t concentrate on an empty stomach.

When she entered the kitchen, she was alone except for the cook who accompanied them. The only other crew member besides the pilot. Yasai frowned, trying to think of her name… Same moment the woman turned around, a little frown on her face.

“Commander Yasai. I thought you were all busy. Nothing´s done yet.”

Yasai huffed and sat down anyway. “Doesn’t matter, give me something.”

The woman bit her lip and turned around again. Yasai watched her absentmindedly, still going over the last three hours. Gohtin had described it as a stronger push, just when the energy forms from the inside. It didn´t help at all. She understood how energy formed in the body, she just couldn´t get how she was supposed to push it further steadily.

“Do you want it warm or cold?”

Yasai eyed the bowl that was held in front of her. Looked like something from the southern regions. “Warm.”

Without hesitation the woman´s hand was glowing and the bowl started steaming. She handed it to Yasai who looked at it dumbfounded. That damn low class… “How did you do that?”

“What? You want the recipe?” She smiled, but it was a bit careful.

“No, you heated the bowl with your ki. How did you… control it that precisely?”

The woman stared at her for a while, seemingly unsure how to answer. Yasai knew that the cooking crew was always recruited from soldiers who underperformed in fighting but had good ki control, but she never took it a step further. Who would have thought that of all people… “We need it for our mission. What´s your name again?”

“Gine. I… Commander Yasai, I know this isn´t standard procedure but we all use it. `s not that hard, actually. You feel the warmth coming out and you just… want it to be a bit warmer. Not trying to blow up the kitchen, just… a little. Tiny bit.” Gine´s hand started glowing again, her energy spread all over her palm. “No use for that outside of the kitchen I guess.”

Yasai stared at the energy until it dissipated. “You have no idea.” Without further comment, Yasai started eating. It was tasting damn good as well.

When she was done, she didn´t get up immediately. Something about Gine bothered her. “You´ve proven a reliable soldier to be on this mission.”

Gine looked shortly over her shoulder but didn´t stop chopping. “Not much to it. Just following orders and talking when asked.”

Yes, those easy rules almost everyone had trouble following. “Just curious, you smell… did you have a child recently?”

Now Gine turned around, knife in hand. She pushed her hair behind her ear, trying to hide her nervousness. “Yes, I did. Is that a problem?”

“If you smell that strongly, shouldn´t you be on Vegeta-sei taking care of it?”

Gine smiled, warm and bright. “Oh, sorry, I thought you were bothered by the smell. It´s the milk, it won´t go back that quickly. I mean, no Commander, I´m part of a new breeding technique. The child is currently in an incubator until he´s old enough to go directly to school. That way I won´t miss too much work.”

“And you like that?”

Gine eyed her warily. Yasai waved and spared her the answer. She had every right to be cautious of someone that much above her. It explained why Gine was on her ship, though. If she was trustworthy enough to take part in another governmental experiment on how to create more soldiers without incapacitating the current force too much. Yasai slowly walked back to the storage room. They had tried something like that already and failed. Children needed some kind of contact with their parents, or they would end up socially unacceptable and useless. If they were trying to grow them again like vegetables it was even more reason for her to master the ascension as quickly as possible. Once Freeza was gone, things would change. They had to. And she would make sure they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit short but I´ll make sure the next chapter will be up in the next few days. After I blabbered how I don´t want to include Minus I decided to have a cameo anyway haha. But honestly, cameos are great if they make any kind of sense and I really enjoyed having Gine in this.
> 
> Anyway, thanks to all of you for waiting that long! This was the first chapter of the ‘things I totally wanted to write and started this fic for’ and as it occasionally happens, by wanting to do it as good as possible I felt completely unable to write anything at all. But the beginning of this tiny arc is made and I´ll do my best to get back into my weekly rhythm again!
> 
> See you next time:)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for minor character death

“And we should arrive tomorrow around noon. The atmosphere is pretty rough, with the climate all crazy…”

Gine took a bite from her plate and slowly chewed it. “I wonder if there are still buildings left. I´d like to see some ancient ruins.”

Hamu shrugged. “Dunno. But while they´re training, we should probably stay away from buildings.”

“ _We_ don´t have to sit around in the middle of nowhere. Flying is ok on that Vegeta-sei, right?”

Hamu huffed, but he couldn´t hide the tiny smile. “Hey Gine, can you make something from Ara tomorrow? `s where I come from. I mean, it´s not often you get decent food on a flight…”

Gine punched him, lightly. It´s not as if she often had to serve during one as well. And if there had been a chance to say no she would´ve preferred not to be on this one anyway. “Do you know what they are trying to do? Yasai asked me something weird, I think they are working on their energy control.”

Hamu leaned back, looking at the ceiling, contemplating. “That tailless guy did something strange. He made an energy ball and let it grow and shrink and all the commanders just sat around and stared at it. Dunno what that is good for.”

“Did you peek?” Gine immediately leaned forward. She hadn´t dared to. If someone had seen her, they would´ve just told her to stay in the kitchen. And that was something she really didn´t need to hear.

“No, I had to get something from storage, not my fault if they are sitting around there. Maybe I had to search a little longer than absolutely necessary…”

They both fell quiet until they finished their meal. It was only fair for them to try and find out what was going on. They were obviously trusted enough to even be on this ship and even if the high ranks always thought that the lower ones don´t need to know anything didn´t mean that they weren´t curious. They just had to be a bit careful.

“Hamu, where do we land? Near the old palace? I need to take a few pics! I mean, now that I´m so inconvenienced with all that Ara food I´m going to cook…”

Hamu laughed heartily. “Yasai will decide, but I´ll try and present her all the advantages.”

Half an hour later Gine heard the commanders come in for dinner. Hamu had already left and was waiting in the cockpit for her to finish up so they could watch something together. They didn´t so much as look at her, only grabbed their food and left. Not that Gine wanted to complain, they made her uncomfortable anyway.

The landing the next day was rough but without complications. Despite what Gine had assumend they landed in the middle of nowhere. It was hot, dry and nothing around them except for some low hills. Definitely no building inside. Hamu had just shrugged when she asked him. So he didn´t know any better as well. Two more days passed. The commanders barely left the ship and Hamu told her that he had to increase the gravity in the storage room. They were trying to get stronger, but… that was nothing anyone ever did. If she could just ask!

On day five they finally left the ship and Hamu immediately flew away from the area. Gine joined him in the cockpit, not wanting to waste the opportunity to see the original Vegeta-sei. Unfortunately there wasn´t much to observe anyway. There was a road here and there, barely visible under a layer of rubble and dirt. She couldn´t really make out any buildings, either they were already gone or overgrown so much that they looked like hills from the sky. When they finally reached the old capital though it had been worth the trip. She immediately took out her phone to get a few good shots from the sky.

“I dunno what I expected, but with the climate collapsed I thought everything would be barren.”

“I don´t see much wildlife. I mean, I looked it up and it said that the ecosystem was almost completely destroyed. Maybe those plants just adapted.” And there were a lot of them, growing like a jungle over all the crumbling buildings. “Where´s the palace though?”

“Over there.” Hamu pointed at the huge hill in the middle of the city. Trees were growing on top of it. She wondered if it was still possible to go inside. “You wanna check it out?”

“Absolutely. We won´t get a second chance!”

Hamu laughed and pushed the handle down to let the ship slowly sink lower. The wind was quite strong and gave them a good shake, but it was still tolerable. “Good thing we don´t have to train like children.”

Hamu side-eyed her hard. “Don´t show them your pictures though. This is a secret mission.”

“Yeah I know.” They both quickly threw over some hooded jackets before they went outside. It wasn´t very cold, but there was a lot of dirt flying around in the air. “Just something to show my boys when they´re older.”

Hamu didn´t react. She knew he wouldn´t give her away, but he obviously didn´t think it was smart what she was doing. Walking the few hundred meters over to the palace turned out to be a hard task. Most of the asphalt was splintered and gone and thick roots and knee high grass covered most of it. The air smelled rotten and heavy and taking a deep breath was almost impossible. Gine pushed the collar of her jacket higher, trying to cover as much of her mouth as possible. Hamu made a tiny gesture after a few steps and started to hover. Right. They were on the old Vegeta-sei, they were allowed to fly. A few seconds later they landed in front of a huge wall of leaves.

“You think that´s the entrance?” Gine pushed lightly against the green carpet in front of her. It gave way softly.

“I think we should just kick it in.” She shrugged and Hamu blasted a decent hole in it. She took out a flashlight, but unfortunately there wasn´t much to see.

“There´s only roots. We can´t even walk in.”

With a huff they tried a few more sides of the building but to no avail. Frustrated, Gine sat down on a particularly thick root. “Man, I really wanted to see the palace! This was my only chance!”

Hamu sat down next to her, shrugging. After a few seconds he aimed at the floor and blasted a huge junk of pavement away. The blast had blown up a massive dust cloud and both of them quickly made way. It smelled horrible, like moldy food and sewer. At least the wind helped clear it out quickly.

“Why the fuck did you do that?”

Hamu pointed at the hole. It looked like a room underneath. “Thought the rooms below ground might still be root free. I was right.”

“That makes no sense at all, Hamu.” It didn´t. And yet they had found the palace cellar. Or garage, more like it. Hamu jumped down, blowing up another load of foul reeking dust. Gine waited for him to stop coughing before she followed as well, her flashlight ready. Old bikes. Lots of them. Not quite what she had expected, but…

“If we get our storage back, I´m so gonna take some of them back with me.”

Gine nodded slowly. No way they would be allowed that. But she could still take some photos…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They made it back soon enough to fly the ship to the outskirts of the city and for Gine to start with dinner. Hamu had taken one of the engines and was busy cleaning it. It looked miraculously intact.

Gine jumped when someone quietly entered the kitchen and broke her out of her musings. She hadn´t paid attention, thought all the commanders had already taken their dinner. But it was the tailless one. She hadn´t seen him yet, she always looked down when the commanders came in. Now she couldn´t stop staring.

“Is something left? Overtime…” He shrugged, a strained smile tugged on the corners of his mouth.

“I… yes. Over there.” He sat down, quietly. Gine had to remind herself that that one wasn´t a commander. He couldn´t be. He didn´t have a tail!

“Where are you from?”

“Excuse me?” He looked up, a frown on his face. “Has no one told you that I´m a bastard yet?”

A mixed… This whole mission became instantly even weirder. “You… do you know Bardock? You look exactly like him.”

“No.” He eyed her curiously. “Maybe one of his relatives is my dad. Don´t know much family history.” That could always…

“Gine, get me something.”

“Over there, Yasai. Don´t be so rude.” Yasai glared at the mixed, but she actually did as she was told. Gine didn´t dare to look up, but she almost exploded out of curiosity.

“Anyway, that Bardock guy, is he a friend of yours?”

Gine glanced at Yasai, but she didn´t seem to take notice of them. Still… “No. We serve in the same team mostly and we´ve got two children together.”

“Who decided that?” Yasai stared at her and she immediately wanted to shrink. Somehow she had become even more intimidating in the last few days. “It´s not uncommon when the match is good. We didn´t bribe any government officials. And we get along well.”

Yasai huffed. It sounded like she was demeaning Gine. “Sounds like something you would do in the colonies. But I guess it´s different in the low ranks…”

“What do you even mean? Are you a couple?” Gine laughed, but stopped immediately. He definitely wasn´t from Vegeta-sei. “No no, the government decides which pairs are good for strong babies. Guess we´re good enough. Little Radditz is already doing well in school and Kakarott…” She eyed Yasai. The mixed was on this secret mission, but her little Kakarott was a completely different secret mission. “He´s just born but shows promise.”

“Guess we don´t need to waste too much time trying different pairs if we only get low ranks anyway.”

Gine pressed her lips together. She had another son not from Bardock and he had been sent away as an infant. It had been years ago and he was probably dead. Yasai was only required to produce one child and she was one of the strongest fighters on the planet. She would never know how Gine felt like.

The mixed lingered around until Yasai was done and left. He looked troubled. Maybe his father was one of the cast aways. “I´m Son Goten, Gine. I… I think I have heard of Bardock. From my father. I don´t remember much. Just…” He hesitated, playing around with his chopsticks. When he looked up, she took a step back. “Maybe you should leave Vegeta-sei when we get back. Take your sons and go somewhere else.”

“Is something going to happen?”

He smiled, strained. “Something, yes.” He got up and left.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everyone was back in their rooms. She had the storage for herself. Yasai had instructed Hamu to turn up the gravity to 20g and leave it. They had tried 10g so far and it had been tolerable. 20… Yasai felt the strain on her muscles, every movement hurt, sweat was dripping down so fast she felt like standing in a shower. Even Burra had managed 10g of her home planet. Even that fucking girl!

Yasai felt her ki rise while she did her push ups even more forcefully. Gohtin had been right, feeling ki, controlling ki, it was easy once she had understood what she was looking for. Now they only had to become stronger and once she had felt what the ascension meant with her new insight she highly doubted they would manage it in a month. Yasai sank down, breathing hard. Every breath felt like a crushing weight on her chest. If she still had the energy she would scream at how much it hurt.

It didn´t help, though. Self pity was useless. One of them had to prove that it was possible. The king would demote them all and she had worked too hard for it. One of them was enough. Nashi and Mikan were doing well, Poroto and Cilek were close. She couldn´t rely on them. Groaning, she got up. Tomorrow, she would try 30g. Even if it killed her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Faster! Do it faster, I know you can!”

They were already at halftime and their progress was laughable at best. And since Goten had shown them how to detect ki they were all very aware of it. Unsurprisingly, their performance didn´t get any better. The only one who was still ahead was Yasai, but it still wasn´t enough! He didn´t even know what enough was, if it was already good to try and get her angry or not and… “Come on, Poroto, put in some effort!”

Poroto threw an energy attack at him, but Goten just swatted it away. They all hated him. They had made that clear from the beginning, but now it was so obvious he could almost cut the air around them. As if it was his fault that they didn´t become super saiyans in two weeks! If they would use that hatred to channel it into their training… He kicked Poroto in the gut a little too hard and quickly pulled his foot away before Poroto threw up on it. This was useless. His dad had injured himself to get stronger, Goten knew it worked. But even if they had the means to heal quickly, it was still horribly dangerous. As it was Goten had to be extremely careful anyway.

“Gohtin!” Mikan stared at him from a few meters away. Most of them had ditched their jumpsuits and Mikan´s dreads were falling over her sports bra. Blood was dripping down her chin. He wanted to tell her to be careful, but… “Yes, Mikan?”

“Finish up with Poroto and come here.”

Goten eyed Poroto who stopped coughing and slowly wiped away the bile that stuck to his mouth. “Maybe I need more of that. Maybe you don´t push hard enough.”

They were all insane! How couldn´t they understand that if he would lose himself just a little they would end up as a smear on the ground? He laughed and decided it didn´t sound hysterical at all. “If you want to throw up even more I can help you with that. But if I break a bone you´re out of commission.”

Poroto smiled. Goten noticed that Yasai stopped beating up Nashi and looked over to them. This wasn´t good. He didn´t like all the sudden attention. Poroto attacked anyway, raising his ki with every punch. It still wasn´t enough, and it wouldn´t be for a long time and it was frustrating Goten to no end! He blocked without real effort, hoping Poroto would at least land one punch when Goten was sloppy enough. He wasn´t even good at it, he only ever sparred every few weeks if someone was in the mood.

“Gohtin! What are you doing, do you even want this to work? Do you think I´m throwing away my career for your half assed attempts? DO YOU?” Yasai´s aura was flaring wildly around her. He didn´t know what she expected from him, but she should continue. Maybe it helped. Poroto used this moment to land a solid punch on Goten´s jaw. He reacted instinctively and only the loud crunch made him focus. Poroto was lying on the ground, his head strained in an impossible position. Goten couldn´t stop staring at him. He knew what it meant. Slowly shaking his head, he made a step back, only to tumble into Yasai.

“This changes nothing.”

There was no emotion in her voice. “Fuck yourself, Yasai.” He fled.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

No one bothered him until he got back a few hours later. They had to be angry, he had just killed one of their teammates. Or maybe it wasn´t that unusual. Maybe they were so used to killing and seeing their friends, their relatives getting killed that one more didn´t matter. Or maybe the thought… this was the game changer. This was the one thing that would justify a senseless death. And it had been his fault. Grinding his teeth, Goten stalked through the ship. He just wanted to lie down and stop thinking, stop…

Gine came around the corner and smiled at him. His _grandmother_. He hadn´t expected to tumble into anyone from his family, he wasn´t Bra, they weren´t royal. And yet… if she just knew. He very much would like to have someone to curl up next to and maybe even cry. He smiled back, weakly.

“Son Gohtin, I put back some food for you.” When he just nodded she even dared to grab his arm. He had noticed how meek she got whenever someone else was around. He really must look like shit. “Are you ok? Heard of the training accident… It´s always…” She shrugged. “It happens. It´s not your fault.”

No. It was. He had been distracted. It had been his fault and he would never forget it. “Gine, do you know what we are doing here?”

She looked at him curiously before she tugged on his arm, leading him back to the kitchen. “No, I don´t, but I´ve been speculating. Guess we´re going to war against someone strong if the commanders are training.”

“Yes. Freeza.”

Gine´s eyes widened dramatically. He knew it would get her attention. “Have you heard of the super saiyan? That´s true. I am one. Don´t look like that, I know I´m not a full saiyan, but everyone can do it. And we will…” He swallowed, hard. “If you can, you should really grab your sons and their father and leave Vegeta-sei.”

Her eyes moved frantically over the floor as she tried to process it. “I can´t just leave, I´m serving in the army. But I guess… But if you kill _him_ , why should I leave?”

“Do you really think everything will chance once that happens? I haven´t grown up here and I know it won´t.” He huffed, almost laughing. “Both of your sons will get used and chewed out and thrown away by those people. You, as well. If I had grown up there it would´ve been the same for me. You don´t have to think it´s only natural to get treated this way. You can do better.”

She grabbed his arm again, her grip so strong he actually felt a slight pinch. “But you are here.”

“I´m only one person. I will change nothing.”

She didn´t let him go. There was an intensity in her eyes that made him shiver. “Gohtin, when we arrived here, Hamu and I checked out the palace. There wasn´t much left, we only found some vehicles and storage rooms. But there were old reliefs there, stored away in the cellar. And there were… parents on them, with their children.”

“Family. That´s the word.”

Gine smiled. It looked sad. “It can go back to that. So many of us want it. It´s not all on you.”

Somehow, he didn´t feel like her hope meant anything. He left her standing there. He knew what would wait for him on the next day. They still had two weeks left and they only became more frustrated. He should use the time Yasai had given him so generously and try to sort his feelings out. Since there was no sympathy to be expected anywhere else.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, another chapter with Goten and then we´re back at Vegeta-sei and Bra. Hope you had fun and I try my best and get another chapter out this week:)
> 
> Oh, and names: Hamu is Japanese for ham.


	14. Chapter 14

Poroto was dead. It hadn´t taken Gohtin any effort, just swatted away mindlessly while he had been distracted. Yasai stared at her hands, her bloody knuckles that couldn´t even heal as fast as she punched them raw again. Was that what it meant to have ultimate power? She hadn´t chosen all of them on a whim, they were some of the strongest fighters the saiyan race had to offer. Poroto hadn´t been weak. If Freeza was like that, how was she supposed to ever be his match?

And yet Gohtin had run away in horror. Who had taught him how to be that powerful without teaching him to use it to its full extent? How could you be so weak and soft about killing one person when he could save billions with it? Loosing Poroto wasn´t good. It instantly made all the doubts creep back into her mind, how she had severely overestimated herself and thought she could do it all alone and now she was back at the beginning, ending up as another footnote in history and her achievements just vanished like that! Yasai lifted her head, closed her eyes. She felt the soft breeze from the air vents blow over her face. It didn´t matter. Deep down she knew that she was meant for something great. Gohtin didn´t know anything about the other Yasai in his universe, but she knew that that Yasai hadn´t died like Poroto, swatted away without a glance. And she wouldn´t, either. She leaned her head to the side, listened into the soft whisper of ki around her. Gohtin was back, his energy a bright spot in her mind. She would shine so much brighter than that.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mikan looked up when she felt Gohtin´s ki return. It must´ve been his first kill, reacting like a child about something that insightful. Mikan grinned while she continued rubbing hand lotion on her busted knuckles. She hadn´t quite believed it when she got the note for this mission. Yasai was good at what she was doing, but Mikan remembered her too well from back when Yasai had still been a group leader serving on Mikan´s ship and had always been a bit too enthusiastic. The only reason Mikan hadn´t dismissed it was the promise to get her out of baby duty should she manage to ascend. With only a year left it was a very good prospect. Staying a year on Vegeta-sei just to produce a child that may even be useless… They didn´t need a commander for that. It wouldn´t even be a royal child.

She stared at the far corner of her room in thought. Poroto´s death was a pity, but one that she could ignore. She hadn´t quite believed that the ascension was that strong. Gohtin had shorted out the scanners, but that wasn´t any good evidence. They always shorted out when confronted by quick energy bursts. Even sensing ki wasn´t any proof, he was stronger, yes, but she had no way to figure out the scale. The technique was too new. But she knew Poroto. She could estimate his capabilities and killing him like an insect… that was remarkable. Ascending would be useful. She was fine with Yasai achieving it first, she was still young and needed the praise, but she would be second. And Mikan was certain that she would find good use for it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cilek barely noticed it when Gohtin came back to the ship. He was so damn tired and just wanted to sleep… He felt as if he was back at school, where beating the shit out of each other had been fun. If he was honest, he had only tagged along because he still owed Yasai a favour. Back when they had both been group leaders and she had covered up a busted mission for him. Being a commander was way more political which was a side of the job he enjoyed tremendously. Well, their time was halfway up anyway and then he could go back to his ship, patting himself on the back that he had given it a try.

He sighed and closed his eyes, wondering who would take over Poroto´s command. It was tainted now, of course, dying like that on a dumb training mission, but if there was a chance Cilek was absolutely on board to take over part of Poroto´s territory. Smiling, he felt the darkness take over. It was better not to put too much effort into it. With strength like Gohtin, he would only attract unwanted attention. And he hated nothing more than that.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yasai wasn´t training this evening. Nashi had noticed the extra hours she put in, the high gravity… of course she had everything to lose. It had been her idea after all, but Mikan had told him already that it was not unexpected. Yasai was still young and way too easy to rile up. Nashi barely knew her, he had a daughter with Yasai´s mother, and he knew that he was only on this mission because Mikan had recommended him. And Mikan… definitely knew him too well. This was exactly what he had been looking for. The only pity was that Yasai had found the mixed and not he. Otherwise, he would´ve never shared the news with basically everyone and simply ascended alone. Nashi was sure Yasai wouldn´t dispose of the two mixed after they were done. Too soft. She was just lucky to be a royal child, otherwise she would still sit out her time in the middle ranks before becoming a commander.

Well, it couldn´t be changed. At least Poroto was gone. Nashi didn´t want to share the spotlight with too many people. The ascension was stronger than he had thought... He wasn´t certain it would be a match for Freeza, but it was definitely enough to widen out the saiyan territory. Maybe even loosen their connection to the planet trade organization some. There was potential in it and he was positive that after this unexpected death Yasai would be more than motivated to get it over quickly. One training accident was bad luck. Two showed what a bad soldier she was. And people like Yasai only wanted to impress.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goten was too tired to do more than sigh. Yasai was already furious before they flew to their training spot. He didn’t know why, even. It couldn´t be because she was sad over Poroto´s death. None of them seemed to particularly like each other and it was still very present in his mind how she had told him Poroto´s death _didn´t matter_. And for the first time she was wearing a grey T-shirt instead of her tight uniform. Maybe she´d come to the same conclusion as Goten had in the previous, very sleepless night. That she had to ascend as quickly as possible because he was done with it. They couldn´t harm him anyway and once one of them was a super saiyan he would be out of it. Goten wasn´t sure if Yasai had the necessary base power already, they were all so weak compared to what he knew, but maybe that just meant she had to be angrier. And from the looks of it she was getting ready for that just fine.

The moment they landed Yasai turned around to him, her aura flaring wildly. “Time for playing around is over!”

As if. He waved her over, a bit away from the others. “Try to hit me. I know you worked more than the other´s, so show me some of it.”

Yasai grumbled. Goten saw her tail tighten around her waist before she lunged forward. He had no trouble evading her attacks, she was too weak and although she was miles ahead of him in terms of technique there was still no speed to back it up. He moved shortly aside and slapped her on the back, making her stumble forward. And she thought he had fun doing this all day. “I wonder what you have been doing all that time. Your power level isn´t that much higher than Nashi´s and honestly, you´re so slow I could do something else and you´d still be unable to hit me.”

“Shut the fuck up! Yesterday Poroto landed a punch!” She jumped, disappearing shortly before contact, just to ram her knee into his spine. It stung, but it didn´t really hurt. He turned around, stopping her fist mid air. “Well, good try Yasai, but even if you connect you just don´t do any damage. I thought you were the best the saiyans had to offer? Maybe I was wrong, maybe Vegeta is the only elite who can manage the transformation and only the ones you dismiss as weak are able to do it.”

She tried to pull her fist away from his grasp but he didn´t let her. She and all the other commanders hadn´t tried to hide how little they thought of everyone not from their tight, privileged circle. They didn´t even look at Gine when they entered the kitchen. They thought they were so far above everyone else that hearing how the son of some lowly soldiers managed a transformation that was seen as legendary would definitely raise the blood pressure. Getting played by a tailless bastard… would work as well.

“I killed someone because of you and you can´t even manage to get stronger. Are you even trying? Or do you think we´ll go back and daddy will pat your head for effort and blame it all on me? Do you?” He pressed harder and she groaned under the pressure. A little more and he would break her hand. He wasn´t so sure he wanted to stop in time anymore.

“Let go. Let GO!” She pulled harder, something cracked under his hand. When Yasai screamed he let her go, concerned for a moment. When she looked up he knew it couldn´t have been so bad. He actually felt it when her left fist connected with his cheek bone, making him see stars for a moment.

“Don´t you dare think you pathetic excuse of a saiyan are better than me. I earned it.”

Goten stumbled a step away, grinning while he rubbed the sore spot on his cheek. “What did you earn? Getting born isn´t a big feat, everyone manages that.” He laughed and when he felt her ki rise higher than ever before he laughed even louder. “All you EVER did was being a privileged brat! None of your achievements are that great when you consider…”

“Shut up!” He ki was flaring so wildly it was blowing up the dust around them, whipping against the plants on the hillsides. Mikan, Nashi and Cilek had come closer, curiously. Yasai had noticed them and her ki instantly decreased a little. Still trying to hold up a façade for her colleagues… He had to change that.

“When you consider that it was GIVEN TO YOU! Have you ever worked for anything in your life? Have you ever done anything worthwhile? It wasn´t even your doing that you found me, it was dumb luck that Youzi had brought us to you! You´re good at nothing and you know it.”

She had stomped a step closer and shot a huge energy ball at him. Goten swatted it away, but it burned his hand while doing so. He pretended not to feel it. It was better that way.

“Do you honestly think you´d ever be as good as I am ? You´re just mediocre by your own standards. Guess Nappa only fucks you because it´s convenient.”

It happened too fast for him to react, a punch so hard he felt one of his teeth break in his mouth and he was pushed back so violently only the mass of plants growing on the hills slowed his momentum. When the shock rubbed off, he saw the glowing light in the distance. Goten quickly flew back to their spot, Yasai on her knees, breathing hard. Glowing golden.

“Congrats.”

She panted, her ki scorching the soil around her. “How… how did it happen? I´m not as strong… as you. I thought…”

Goten hesitated for a second. It was better to tell her, the other three would hear it and maybe it helped them ascend quickly as well. On the other hand… he didn´t feel like reassuring her. He didn´t know her well enough to know if anything he had said was true but because of her he had become a murderer. She deserved to feel bad.

“You were so angry you had to let it out some way. That´s how everyone I know ascended.”

She smiled and got up, slowly. “Be glad I´ll let you live.”

“You can´t even control it properly. Threaten me when you learn how to turn by will.”

Her smile widened and she attacked again. He quickly turned and tried to hold his own, but their difference in power was barely noticeable and she used every bit of pent up frustration to make him suffer. When she was done he was sure his nose was broken in more spots than one and the taste of blood in his mouth made him want to vomit. Sparring like that was insane. He was on his knees, trying to gather his senses to get up during the little pause Yasai had given him only to look directly at the ki ball aimed at his face. He wasn´t sure if it would kill him. A short glance behind her showed him the rest of the crew, assessing him. Waiting for his execution. Maybe they even thought it was the proper thing to do, he had killed one of their own, he had been bested, he deserved to die. He looked back at the energy, his heart rate going up until it hurt in his chest. If he died here… maybe they would send him back to his own universe. He didn´t want to spend the afterlife here.

The energy ball dissipated and vanished. Yasai´s golden glow did the same. She was panting hard, and although unharmed she looked exhausted beyond belief. “You´ll live, Gohtin. For now.”

“I´m not frightened by your empty threats.”

She stumbled back before she rested her hands on her knees. “Not empty. And you know it.”

He heard it when Mikan leaned over to Nashi and said “She´s too weak.” But Mikan wasn´t the one in charge here. And Yasai would never forget who gave her the greatest power she had ever felt. And once the exhaustion was gone she would want it back, like a shot of heroin. And he would give it to her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Before the week was up Mikan turned as well. Nashi managed it just before they were ready to leave the planet. Cilek didn´t, but three out of five was good anyway. It only showed that the saiyan women had more to be angry about than the men.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although they were travelling so fast the view was still full of stars as far as Gine could see. The sight was unimaginable, you wouldn´t get it on any planet and pictures just didn´t do it justice. Gine definitely preferred her assignments on the ground, but travelling never ceased to amaze her anyway. It was probably the best part of her job.

“I know what they did.”

Hamu looked at her. He had been lost in his own thoughts while staring at the stars. “What?”

“They became so strong that they messed up the weather and we felt the ground shake although we were halfway across the planet. It´s not just the training.”

“How do you know?” Hamu frowned, concern clearly running over his face. “Did you fuck one of them? Gine, that was an awful idea! You know that they won´t help you with a promotion, worst case you´ll get demoted to the last shithole in the galaxy!”

She smiled and patted Hamu´s arm. As if she was that dumb. “I didn´t, don´t worry. The tailless one is actually related to Bardock. My partner. They look very much alike. He told me that they are becoming super saiyans.”

Hamu didn´t react for a long while. So long in fact that Gine wanted to check if he was still alive. Died out of shock and disbelief. “Gine, that´s crap. Everyone knows it´s crap.”

“That´s what they were doing here. You´ll see.”

They left it at that. After they sat together for a while in peaceful silence again, Hamu pinched her arm.

“What?”

“My contract is almost up. What do you say, when we´re done serving we´re gonna go back there and film a documentary. We already got some good locations and you´ve got an eye for good shots.”

Gine´s smile turned into loud laughter. She would like that.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“ _Vegeta-machi palace station 133. Who is speaking?”_

“Yasai here. Mission 77-GT-2 was successful. Please proceed with mission 34-FR-9.”

“ _Understood.”_

Yasai leaned back. Despite her doubts, things were going exactly… as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I haven´t made up for the whole time but three chapters in a week were still a good run haha. Next chapter will be earliest next weekend though, gotta go to work again I´m afraid (I´d be okay with more vacation haha)
> 
> Anyway, next chapter is back to Bra! And if anyone of you want to speculate what will happen in the next few chapters I would love to read it!
> 
> Thank you all for reading and see you next time:)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for violence that´s kind of bordering on torture. It´s not graphic, though.

“ _We´ll stop somewhere far enough away from Vegeta-sei to meet with the king. Don´t know what´s planned afterwards.”_

Bra looked at the far corner of the room. Even more waiting… it was unnerving. “Okay. Guess I´ll wait here.” She heard Goten laugh at the other end of the line. The first time she heard of him in a month and she couldn’t even ask him how it had went. “Studying is pretty much as awful as everything else. When I know the maths I don´t know how they call the equations and it´s just… a mess.”

 _“But you´re good at it anyway?”_ He laughed again. It sounded strained. Bra huffed softly, not wanting to alarm him. Yes, she managed somehow, but it didn´t make it any easier. “Got some assignment as well. Guess my training starts.”

_“I´ve got to go. Don´t do something stupid.”_

“Yeah. You too.” He hung up before she was finished talking. She held the phone a while longer before she let it fall down on her bed. One month and she was willing to go to the training assignment just to get out of it for a day or two. Bra hadn´t thought for a moment that the saiyans they had first met on the ship had actually been nice. In some way. She only learned it when she had tried to befriend someone at the university. Most of the students were women and some of them even had weirdly coloured hair, so Bra assumed she would fit right in. Unfortunately she had deeply underestimated the racism and classism that no one wanted to hide that was rampant at that place. Possibly everywhere on the planet. It wasn´t Bra´s weird hair. It weren´t her eyes either, not alone. But she didn´t have a tail and her fellow students didn´t have a lot of trouble telling her that a tailless colony freak isn´t allowed to talk to them.

Bra groaned and rubbed over her eyes. She had never been a very easygoing person and making friends was… not something she was good at. But that had never been necessary anyway. She was the daughter of the richest family on the planet. _Everyone_ wanted to be liked by her. Nothing had prepared her for the complete opposite. Rolling around, she grabbed the phone again, the one she had gotten on the first day at uni. Worst of all, she hadn´t lied to Goten in the slightest. She was able to follow most of the subjects in general, but everything was named differently and she had to catch up to a lot of basics for the engineering classes. She hadn´t lied, she was smart and learnt quickly and that was the only thing that made her not fail completely. Still it required so much hard work. Not that she had anything better to do. University was enough, she didn´t dare to wander around the city too much. She itched to do some workouts, at least go jogging, but maybe that was weird for the locals as well. She would figure it out, should she really have to stay longer. Until then…

_Assignment to mission 34-FR-9. Mulitple day training course, Palace building 64-1-3-5_

First floor, third turn, fifth room. That had been all she got. Probably sent by Yasai. Bra laughed dryly. She was so desperate she would even welcome it to see the bitch again. Nappa hadn´t shown up after he had dropped her off and definitely no sign of lil Vegeta. Well, training martial arts was some kind of workout as well. Better than nothing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She had gotten a care package of sorts with the apartment. It had a few clothes in it; a school uniform, a few changes of casual wear and a workout set. Bra figured it was the right time to wear it, although it was awfully tight and short sleeved. It was still winter in the beautiful capital of the planet… Bra absentmindedly picked on the hem of the shirt while she looked at the clock on the wall. Whoever it was who was going to train her was late. Bra looked around the room, wondering what they were doing there anyway. Didn´t look like a gym. The floor was tiled and some sort of tank was standing next to the wall, right in the middle of it. Bra raised an eyebrow when she finally heard some steps come closer and it rose even higher when she saw the person who finally walked through the door. It was a tiny woman, probably even shorter than Bra. Thick, black hair, pulled back in a massive bun, olive skin and the same tight uniform her dad was always wearing. This one was aubergine, though.

“Are you Burra?”

Bra slowly nodded while she was getting assessed.

“Where´s your tail?”

“Don´t have one. Who are you?”

The woman stopped with her once over and took a datapad from the tech next to her. They were all wearing light blue. What did they even…

“I´m group leader Zukka. I was told you are a bastard of my father and volunteered for a few training rounds to test how quickly adults can raise their base power. If that is even possible.”

Bra tried not to laugh in her face. So this was her grandmother… she had expected something else. Bra wondered why Yasai had sent her. Didn´t Zukka have anything better to do? “Why shouldn´t it? Well, guess we´ll find out anyway. How is this going, do we start with some stretches or…”

Bra didn´t finish her sentence. She barely realized that Zukka had moved before a fist connected so violently with her stomach that she immediately threw up everything she had eaten that day. The second impact broke her spine. Everything went still after that.

The first thing she felt was cold and wet and cold, so cold. Her eyes hurt, opening them hurt too much so she closed them again. After a while, it became easier, still floating in the cold… she opened her eyes again and it was green, green and cold and… Zukka was sitting on the other end of the room, watching her. Bra looked down, her body floating in… it was the tank. She panicked, her heart beat rising up dramatically until the tech knocked against the window and gestured for her to calm down. Bra tried to move and rip of the mask and get out out OUT until the tech pushed a button and drained the fluid. Bra ripped off the mask the moment the liquid sank below her head, breathing so hard her sides started aching. When the fluid was gone completely, a wave of water hit her. She gasped, but it was gone quickly and a door on the side of the tank opened. She stumbled out of it, against the towel Zukka held in her hand.

“What…” Bra coughed again, trying to get her voice working. “What was that?”

“Training. Seeing how quickly you can get stronger.”

Bra´s eyes moved wildly while she pulled the towel around her. This didn´t make any sense. Zukka had almost killed her and… Bra looked up. Zukka didn´t look too happy either. So that was it. Instantly Bra tried to lunge to the side, but Zukka grabbed her hair and pushed her down on the floor. Bra felt a foot between her shoulder blades. The foot came crashing down, hard and Bra lost all feeling in her limbs.

“Are you still there?”

Bra whimpered and the foot crashed down again.

The second time she woke up in the cold and wet she started struggling instantly, punching against the glass. She just wanted to get out, to get out and away and not do this again, the next time Zukka would kill her and prove that mixed are weak and that it doesn´t WORK and that she won´t get stronger by almost killing her and… the fluid drained. The door opened and before Bra even managed to get out of the tank Zukka yanked on Bra´s foot and made her stumble down. Bra tried to turn around, struggle, why had she never learned how to shoot energy, why did she have to be so helpless, why did it have to…

This time it was an energy attack piercing through her stomach. Blood was rising up until Bra spit it out, unable to scream although it hurt too much. She passed out quickly.

She didn´t struggle the next time. She waited until the tank opened and tried to run again. Didn´t work. Didn´t work again and again and again, so often until she lost count of it, of the short burst of pain so immense they were enough for a lifetime. _Multiple day assignment._ She stopped struggling. She just stood tall and waited for it. If she couldn´t escape… she would face it head on.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next time Zukka wasn´t waiting for her near the tank. She was sitting on the other end of the room, drinking something hot out of a plastic cup. Bra waited until the liquid surrounding her was drained and the short water shower washed over her before she slowly exited the cabin. She stopped after two steps, waiting. Zukka took a sip and gestured to the towel on the table next to her.

“Why should I get dry if you´re gonna get me back into that thing again anyway?”

Zukka took another sip and put the cup on the table as well. “We´re done. You´re power did rise into the range of an elite.”

“Really.” Bra got closer, her feet leaving wet prints on the tiles. The moment she stood in front of Zukka she pulled her fist back and punched as hard as she could. Instead of seeing Zukka´s bloody face though she only felt pain surging through her wrist. Zukka pressed a little harder until Bra started moaning in pain and her knees almost gave up.

“You´ll learn how to do that with another teacher.” She let Bra go and handed her the towel. “It´s been three days anyway, we´re gonna get something to eat.”

“Why do you think I want to do that?”

“Because you know I just followed an order. There´s clothes for you, get dressed.”

Zukka obviously didn´t want to move and Bra was too tired to keep on fighting. It had been an order, alright. Not that it justified Zukka actually following it, but she wouldn´t hurt her until she got another order to do so. Bra slowly got dressed. Her wounds were healed but she was weary and incredibly exhausted. There was also a coat and a scarf. It was not hers. Zukka grabbed her own stuff and they walked through the building in quiet. They didn´t take the subway, instead they went outside where it was snowing again. Zukka pulled her jacket tighter and Bra almost grinned.

“Poor performance for a soldier. Everyone else doesn´t seem so bothered.”

Zukka didn´t even stop walking, she only huffed which formed small clouds in front of her. “I´m not from the capital. Where I´m from the weather is hotter and very humid. This is just shit. Don´t know why the capital had to be here.”

She started walking faster and Bra had a hard time keeping up. Once they were outside the gates Zukka went over to the parking lot. Bra was still irritated that the saiyans weren´t flying on their damn planet and especially that the vehicles they used instead didn´t hover either. Their technology was so advanced, but in that aspect… it was almost ancient.

“Come on, it´s cold!”

Reluctantly, Bra got inside. The drive was mostly quiet, Bra only looked outside the window and got her first real look of the city. It was bleak. The buildings were all rectangular in dim colours, everything except the roads was covered in snow and there were barely people outside. From time to time there was some lonely advertisement but besides that Bra didn´t find anything that would distinguish one road from the other. Only when they had arrived the city center it got better. Shops and cafés, more people. Still bleak though. Zukka stopped in front of a huge café, or maybe it was a restaurant? As far as Bra could tell it at least occupied two stories. It had a tiny sign over the front entrance and tiny windows, barely wide enough to get a glimpse inside. Not like the huge, open windows Bra was used to from Souteast City.

“Bura, come on!”

And so little traffic. Bra didn´t know what time it was, but that shouldn´t matter. They were right in the middle of the city! Inside, Zukka immediately walked to one of the tables in the back. At least it was better from the inside, with round lights that spread warm, yellow light, looking like a sea of lampions on the ceiling. The restaurant wasn´t crowded, but easily half of the tables were occupied. Bra looked around, trying to see the waiters. They were all wearing black and… one of them wasn´t saiyan. She almost wanted to point out to Zukka that the xenophobia obviously didn´t stretch out to the ones working in the service industry but she kept her mouth shut. She was too tired for that kind of discussion.

The moment they sat down, Zukka immediately grabbed one of the menus and quickly flipped through it.

“What do you want?”

Bra slowly turned the pages, barely looking at it. “I don´t know what any of this is. Just order something.”

Zukka eyed her a long while. “Is the food that different in the colonies?”

“I´m not from there.” Bra leaned back, waiting what Zukka would do. Her hair was still uncomfortably wet and she already felt nervous from her lack of cigarettes. It didn´t help, she had to stand Zukka for a little while longer. The waiter came shortly after, and Zukka immediately rattled off a long list names. Bra used the moment to close her eyes for a while. She just wanted to go home and lie down. _Home…_

“I wondered why someone from the colonies volunteered for this.”

Bra opened her eyes again, smiling. “Didn´t volunteer. I wasn´t aware it would mean three days of attempted murder.”

Zukka huffed again.

“What?”

“Listen Bura, this is not the kind of assignment that I´m thrilled about. I couldn´t say no, it was an order directly from the palace.”

“Yeah it´s from Yasai. I know what she wanted to prove.”

Zukka grinned. It looked threatening on her, but then again all saiyans Bra had encountered so far were pretty threatening.

“You know her? I haven´t met her yet.”

Bra grunted in response. The waiter brought them their drinks and Bra waited until he was gone to take a sip. It was a weird flavor, but it wasn´t bad. She took another one, trying not to gulp it all down. “Don´t think I´ll ever forget what you did to me, Zukka.”

She looked up and the smile had vanished from Zukka´s face. “If I hadn´t done it they would´ve send someone else. It´s not my fault, I just did my job. There was no way to reject.”

“Why you, though? Aren´t you too important, being the mother of the prince?”

Zukka eyed her drink, moving it around the table a bit. “That doesn´t make me important. I was told you come from a place where family has a high value. And since we have the same father…”

 _Almost._ Bra took another sip. It wasn´t as if she didn´t know that what had just happened would´ve happened anyway, but Zukka was the only one she could immediately blame. “You said I´m gonna get trained. You know more than I do right now.”

“You´ll get your assignment.” The food arrived, a lot of dishes in rather tiny portions. Zukka started to eat and explained everything to Bra. She reluctantly ate some as well. It could´ve been so much better, but Yasai had to ruin it all again. Maybe she was a super saiyan already, erasing every possibility Bra had to punch her damn teeth out. She only hoped that Goten had done that already.

When they were done, Zukka drove Bra back to the palace grounds. She grabbed Bra when she wanted to get out.

“Hey. This was not ok, even if you are only some mixed.”

Bra pulled her arm back violently and stared at Zukka for a while before she left.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two days later she got her new assignment. Training with an instructor, three times a week. After she had slept most of the time since she got back into her apartment she just accepted it. It couldn´t get much worse. **  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I need to ramble a bit about the origin of this story, so if you don´t care you can skip this. For everyone else: This chapter was actually one of the only things that I had fleshed out since the beginning of this story in 2011 (yeah, I was afraid of writing a lengthy multi-chapter story…) It went through some changes but I wanted Zukka to ‘train’ Bra and make her hate Zukka with everything she got. Granted, Bra wasn´t all that angry in this chapter but imo she was completely drained and exhausted after the ordeal and didn´t have enough energy left to be her usual blunt and aggressive self.
> 
> Zukka was one of the characters I absolutely wanted to have in this story as well. Though (spoiler I guess) Zukka will probably not appear much again. She had her own arc in All my tomorrows anyway. But of course nothing but the general outline is set in stone, so if anyone of you desperately wants more of her I´ll fit her in somewhere.
> 
> And another thing: Since I can´t make comparisons to Earth since DB Earth is different from our Earth, here´s some guide to how the characters are supposed to look like:
> 
> Zukka is supposed to look southeast asian, Malayan or Thai. The king is Japanese looking, making Vegeta a little dark which would´ve been a lost trait in Bra and Trunks since Bulma is also Japanese looking.
> 
> Yasai is supposed to look Chinese. Mikan is black, Nashi is Japanese and Cilek is supposed to look Mongolian.
> 
> Alright, so much to that. Hope you had fun and see you next time! (Since there´s a holiday tomorrow in Germany I maaaay manage to start writing the next chapter:)


End file.
